This scene in Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever” makes me do the ugly cry.

 

 

 

 

All those crackheads walking back and forth in ‘Taj Mahal’ looking like zombies mess me up because I’ve had a crackhead or two in my family, and I’m pretty sure if my late granddaddy had of been around he would have put a hot one in some of those family members like the Good Reverend Doctor later did to Samuel Jackson Gator.

 

The crackheads in “Jungle Fever” are about as real as the ones I’ve seen on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles. Some of them are so far gone they could care less that you might be undercover po po and will light up right in front of you. Word to all you parents out there: if you  ever want to scare the shit out of your kid, take ‘em to Skid Row to feed the homeless. I’m telling you 30 minutes on Skid Row is the best “Just Say No” campaign I’ve ever witnessed. 

 

Skid Row is proof that there really are replicas of that dilapidated block in “Jungle Fever” spread all across America. Crack use in this country has destroyed plenty of lives, including the men and women who are arrested for peddling the drug. 

 

Congress has played a huge role in the destruction of those lives. It’s no secret that the federal cocaine sentencing laws are a massive fail; but things may be changing. In January, HR 265, the Drug Sentencing Reform and Cocaine Kingpin Trafficking Act of 2009 was introduced in the House. 

 

The current laws, created in the late 1980s were suppose to severely punish major drug traffickers but instead have been used to lock up petty criminals and small time drug dealers for lengthy sentences. A couple of years ago one of the writers of the bill that created the laws admitted Congress missed the mark:

One of our most infamous contemporary laws is the 100-1 difference in sentencing between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. Under federal drug laws, prison sentences are usually tied to the quantity of drugs the defendant trafficked. For example, selling 5,000 grams of powder cocaine (about a briefcase full) gets a mandatory 10-year prison sentence, but so does selling only 50 grams of crack cocaine (the weight of a candy bar).

 

Working for the House Judiciary Committee in 1986, I wrote the House bill that was the basis for that law. We made some terrible mistakes. [Source] 

 

On Sunday The San Francisco Chronicle published a great piece that framed HR 265 and the current cocaine sentencing laws around the story of former baseball great Willie May Aikens.

 

 

Aikens spent 16 years in prison for 64 grams of crack he sold to an undercover cop. Those 64 grams is equilivant to about a quarter of a cup and nearly a buckets worth of powered cocaine. Says the San Francisco Chronicle:

 

Aikens’ case exemplifies all that’s gone wrong because of these federal sentencing laws: The focus on petty crimes. The distortion of priorities in the war on drugs. The lopsided impact on African Americans – the 83 percent of federal crack defendants who are black, though a federal health survey found most crack users are white. [San Francisco Chronicle]

 

 

Similar to just about every other issue, people are hoping the Obama Administration will push for Congress to change the crack/cocaine sentencing disparity. When Obama and Joe Biden were in the Senate they c0-sponsored a bill to repeal the 100-1 laws.

 

The newest act, HR 265, has plenty of meat packed into it that will be beneficial.  It includes a grant program that would provide money for drug treatment programs in prisons, jails, and juvenile faclities.

 

One of the major problems with America’s war on drugs is that there’s little room for drug treatment. In a piece in the HuffPo yesterday Russell Simmons pushed for the end to the NY Rockefeller laws.

Why are so many people in prison for drug offenses? Because we continue to treat drug addiction as a criminal issue instead of the public health problem that it is. [The Huffington Post]

 

The trouble is, this isn’t the first attempt at changing the current laws. A Google search will reveal a push to change these laws with every change in Congress. Simmon’s state is barely getting close to changing the infamous Rockfeller laws.

 

With prison union lobbyists having great influence on lawmakers it will be an uphill battle to get HR 265 to pass. On another level, our good internets friend, Dallas Penn likes to remind us that it may be more beneficial to the powers that be to keep these laws intact.

 

Nevertheless, it’s time for a change. My favorite part of the HR 265 is that it includes grants for job training, education, and reform. Too many black and brown faces are being locked up for too long over what amounts to be a teaspoon of crack. These people need help, not 10 years in prison where they lose just about any chance of returning to normalcy.

Tags: Add new tag, Cocaine, Cocaine to Crack Ratios, Congress, Crack, Drug Sentencing Reform and Cocaine Kingpin Trafficking Act, HR 265, Jungle Fever, Rockfeller Laws, Russell Simmons, Skid Row, Spike Lee, Willie May Aikens