This never would have happened without Democratic control of Congress and the White House:
Ending a decade-long campaign led by African-American lawmakers, the House Wednesday approved and sent to President Barack Obama a measure to reduce the disparity in penalties between use of crack and powder cocaine. . .
The law drops the five-year mandatory sentence for first time offenders, and for repeat offenders with less than 28 grams of crack. Current law sets the mandatory sentence for conviction at five grams.
There is still a disparity; the article quotes John Conyers (D-MI) that the sentencing disparity between crack and cocaine is going to be somewhere around 18-1 instead of 100-1.
Non-violent drug offenders are filling our prisons to bursting, and most of them find that their time in America's broken prison system, coupled with their felon status, makes crime the only viable occupation. This law will help alleviate that problem.
Well done, Dems - and well done, Republicans who crossed the aisle to vote for this bill's passage.
