Thank God for the drug reform bill President Obama signed reducing the disparity in federalmandatory sentences between crack cocaine and powder cocaine convictions.The 25 year-old law that Congress just changed subjected tens of thousands of blacks to longprison terms for crack cocaine convictions while giving far more lenient sentences to those,mainly whites, caught with the powder form.
Blacks serve almost as much time for drug offenses (58 months) as whites do for violentoffenses (61 months). Though this new law is a congressional compromise, it is a huge stepforward in reforming our overly harsh and wasteful drug laws.
The old 1986 law was enacted at a time when crack cocaine was considered a violent drug.However, in 2002, twenty-eight U.S. Court of Appeals judges and many District Court Judgeswho were formerly U.S. Attorneys, wrote the Sentencing Commission condemning the notion asnot scientifically accurate and recommended its repeal.
There’s still much work to be done as the law applies to only federal defendants, not state laws.Most drug arrests occur at the state level.
We started this journey for justice in 2001. Our many trips to Washington, DC were coveredby the Dothan Eagle, WTVY, WDHN, Southeast Gazette and Rickey Stokes News. Local andregional debates followed with law enforcement officials that wanted to keep the DraconianLaws. The door opens again for those who have not participated in reform to join in doingso now. Otherwise they will be looked upon as preserving a racial caste system that wasabolished with chattel slavery.
We must continue to locally address related issues like lack of family support, ministry andrehabilitation of those incarcerated because of repressive attitudes toward “lawbreakers”, evenafter being “punished”. How long will we allow local political culture to shape our local socialculture by discretionary drug enforcement practice here–the real morally and socially unjustbehavior that destroys lives?
Pastor Kenneth GlasgowFounder, Executive DirectorThe Ordinary People Society (TOPS)403 West Powell St. Dothan, AL 36303Office / Fax: 334-671-2882Cell: 334-791-2433
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