Posted on 02/10/2022 7:57:55 AM PST by Kaslin
As U.S. Senator Rob Portman enters his last year of public service in the U.S. Senate, those keeping score would have to agree that his tenure has been remarkably successful by any measure. And his most significant impact may very well be yet to come.
Under Portman’s steady leadership, Congress finally appears ready to acknowledge and fix a glaring 35-year-old legislative mistake. The Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law (EQUAL) Act, which overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House of Representatives, has been championed by Portman in the Senate. The EQUAL Act would end the unjust mandatory minimum sentencing disparity between the two pharmacologically and chemically similar versions of cocaine—smokable crack that comes in rock crystal format and the more expensive powder variety.
The cocaine crimes sentencing disparity originated in the war on drugs era and imposed a mandatory federal minimum sentence for crack cocaine that was 100 times greater than that of powder cocaine. After more than 20 years of failed federal sentencing policy, Congress quite sensibly cut that ratio down to 18 to one in 2010. The EQUAL Act would further correct Congress’ original error and better align federal sentencing guidelines with the 40 states that have already eliminated the crack/powder sentencing distinction that—according to the independent and bipartisan U.S. Sentencing Commission—has resulted in significant racial discrepancies among those serving federal sentences for distributing crack cocaine.
At the end of a legislative career, it is natural to look back and assess whether laws previously passed are achieving their intended objectives. As Senator Portman has concluded, the evidence is clear: new research suggests that the original justifications for the unequal mandatory minimums—namely the misbeliefs that crack cocaine is more addictive,
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
What few realize is that it was black leaders in the 1960s and 1970s that asked for the tougher sentencing for crack cocaine versus powder cocaine.
It was thought that crack was cheaper and targeted at minorities, so tougher sentencing would stop the spread of crack.
Of course, like most drug laws, it failed to achieve any real tangible progress against crack.
Serious question...
If a person gets caught with a crack pipe that the Federal Gov has given them...
Are they committing a crime of possessing paraphernalia?
Yep. Crack was the “scourge of the black community” with crack babies and crack whores. On the other hand powdered cocaine was seen as a little bit of upper and upper middle class nose candy. Sure, someone had a heart attack now and then or needed the insides of his nose rebuilt, but it was more often seen as a topic of humor - think about Harry Ellis in Die Hard.
Funny that portman is a coke head.
Yes, they can be charged on a state level.
But very few District Attorneys will pursue a prosecution for simple possession of a crack pipe.
However, if you had a "dealers amount" of drugs (the amount varies by state) then you can be charged as a drug dealer and be given an additional charge for possession of paraphernalia.
Even still..
How is this not entrapment?
maybe I am just old.. But I know plenty of kids when i was growing up get arrested and charged with “possession of paraphernalia”. Generally, ended up with probation. But still they were arrested/ processed/ charged/ court, etc..
His last year of public service?
He’s never served the public, just his “sponsors”. Decepticon ‘rat.
Portman’s most ambitious achievement is to leave the senate to become president of the US Chamber of Commerce.
What Erik Latranyi said. Times 10!!
The legislation was requested by Black leaders who were trying to protect blacks from drug-pusher blacks. Don’t let these liars act like it was some whitey scheme to persecute blacks.
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