If it were just an issue of drug use, that would be one thing; however, cocaine of any kind costs money and a lot of these users are committing crimes to get money for their drugs. Sorry, but I'm just not terribly comfortable with the idea that druggies will be put back on the streets - I think that's one of the main reasons that our crime rate in the US has skyrocketed, is that the bad guys aren't kept in jail.

PG,

Well put. Working "up the street" from you, I agree wholeheartedly.

Although I respect everyone else's opinions, the truth of the matter is this:

If you don't work the streets, you simply don't know.

Straight308

The sentencing difference between crack cocaine and powder cocaine was due to the fact that crack cocaine is a much more powerful and addictive drug. Therefore a harsher sentence should reduce the "curiosity" to use that particular drug. I deal with crack-users almost everyday and I would say that there is pretty equal use among blacks, whites, and hispanics. I'd also say that it's also pretty equal between males and females, leaning slightly towards the males. Kaelinda, all your "I don't think..." statements really don't make sense. Users have a max. sentence up to 4 years, depending on the drug. Dealers have a max. sentence up to 25 years, depending on the drug. Rapists and murderers have a max. sentence up to life imprisonment (including death). And the juries who decide the punishment are made up of peers from the community, so that judgement is impartial.

Wrong, the crack drug game is mouth more deadly than powder coke. The street thugs and hapless loser crack heads are more prone to violence, than powder cocaine trade in the US at the street level. Inner city violence should not be tolerated, just because putting lots of black people in prison is not politically correct.

Crack users are no more dangerous than powdered cocaine users. The two should be sentenced alike. I agree that the laws were race based rather than crime based, and I'm glad it has been changed. I don't condone the use of cocaine or any other drug (except caffeine), but I don't think users should be punished as severely as dealers, and I don't think dealers should be punished as severely as rapists and murderers. And I don't think blacks should be punished any more severely than non-blacks.