Amend the law on drug penalties

Re “Closing crack’s 100-1 ratio,” Opinion, Nov. 2

The U.S. Sentencing Commission has shown Congress that now is the time to reform the crack cocaine sentencing scheme. The commission introduced an amendment, made effective Nov. 1, that lowers the bottom of the recommended sentencing ranges for crack cocaine-related crimes so that they are no higher than the mandatory minimum sentences required by federal law. The change is expected to affect more than 3,500 people each year and would reduce defendants’ sentences on average by 15 months. While this step is encouraging, only Congress can eliminate the punitive, racist disparity between powder and crack cocaine sentences. The increased penalty for crack has not aided urban communities. Instead, it has devalued men and women and stripped them from their communities for excessive periods of time.

Jasmine L. Tyler

Washington

The writer is the deputy director of the Office of National Affairs of the Drug Policy Alliance.

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Mandatory minimum prison sentences have done little other than give us a high incarceration rate. The deterrent value of tough drug laws is overrated. Crack use declined after the 1980s not because of a slick advertising campaign or mandatory minimum sentencing laws -- the younger generation saw what crack was doing to their older siblings and decided for themselves that it was bad news. This is not to say nothing can be done about hard drugs. Access to substance-abuse treatment is critical. Diverting resources from prisons and into cost-effective treatment would save tax dollars and lives.

Robert Sharpe

Washington

The writer is a policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy.