The United States Sentencing Commission made a move last week to fix the long-criticized disparity in drug possession sentencing. Oops, did I say fix? I meant slightly improve.
Federal officials have long been criticized by civil rights groups for the so-called 100-to-1 disparity in drug sentencing. Under the old guidelines, a person possessing just 50 grams of crack-cocaine (which is more commonly used by inner city blacks) could get 10 years in prison. But it would take possession of 5,000 grams of powered cocaine (which is more commonly used among suburban whites) to get the same 10 year sentence.
Under the new guidelines, the maximum sentence for possession of 50 grams of crack is 8 years and 10 months instead of 10 years and 1 month. So basically, they shaved off a year. Woohoo? Lindsay Lohan is still safe to possess cocaine with impunity.
Imagine all the wall street types and models who would be impacted. They’d have to rely on amphetamines to stay up for days and eat nothing.