The New York times

Tuesday, July 22, 1997

RENO AND TOP DRUG OFFICIAL URGE SMALLER GAP IN COCAINE SENTENCES

By Christopher S. Wren

Attorney General Janet Reno and the White House drug-policy director have recommended to President Clinton that there be far less disparity between crack and powder cocaine in the way possession of those drugs is punished in the Federal courts.

But their recommendation stops well short of-urging that this disparity, which treats possession of small amounts of crack much more harshly, be eliminated entirely, although the White House drug official said in a telephone interview yesterday that he personally favored closing the gap altogether.

With their proposal, whose adoption would require Congressional approval, Ms. Reno and the White House official, Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, retired, have stepped into one of the most contentious and protracted debates in the long war against drugs: whether there is justification for treating crack more harshly than powder cocaine.

In practice, the current policy has tended to treat blacks more severely than whites, and Ms. Reno and General McCaffrey said one reason for their proposal was a perception that Federal drug enforcement was not being pursued evenhandedly.

They also said the current system drained Government enforcement efforts that might otherwise be applied to catching high-level dealers, since the policy allowed Federal officers-to win long prison terms for users and low-level pushers, with far less effort. And, they concluded, the rationale for the longstanding disparity between crack and powder is somewhat

Outdated, given research that has found a leveling off in the violence long crack trade.

The recommendation to the President was issued in a letter that Ms. Reno and General McCaffrey sent him on July 3. In that letter, the two Cabinet-level officials said Federal judges should be required to impose a minimum prison term of five years on defendants convicted of possessing 25 grams of crack or 250 grams of powder cocaine. At present, that mandatory minimum sentence applies to thresholds of 5 grams of crack and 500 grams of powder. The proposal, then, would narrow the gap from the current 100 to 1 down to, 10 to l.

Although 25 grams still amounts to less than an ounce of crack, the proposal seems bound to find resistance among some members of Congress and others who support severe penalties for any drug use. But it is also likely to be welcomed by Federal judges and prosecutors, who feel that the current five-gram crack threshold deprives them of discretion in making the punishment fit the crime.

Asked yesterday about the proposal, which was first reported in the current issue of Newsweek, a senior White House adviser confirmed that the President had received it and said Mr. Clinton had directed Ms. Reno aid General McCaffrey to pursue the issue with Congress.

"He's concerned about the disparity and how to reduce the disparity," the Presidential adviser, Rahm Emanuel, said of Mr. Clinton. "They are to continue to work with Congress to find a common resolution." The 100-to-1 disparity was created by legislation enacted by Congress in 1986. The law required Federal judges to impose the same five-year minimum sentence on defendants convicted of possessing 5 grams of crack or 500 grams of powder.

The legislation was Congress's response to voter fears prompted by a wave of violence among dealers competing to sell a new product crack, which had first appeared in the nation's drug market earlier in the decade.

But critics have long noted that the disparity puts far more blacks than whites behind bars for five years or longer, because whites are statistically more likely to snort or inject cocaine, while blacks are likelier to smoke cocaine in its cheaper crack form. The disparity has also been faulted for punishing low-level pushers just as harshly as high-level dealers, or even more harshly.

Cocaine hydrochloride - powder cocaine - is refined from alkaloids extracted from coca leaves. The powder is turned into crack through a simple process that involves cooking it with baking soda and water.

In the interview yesterday, General McCaffrey -said he had wanted to propose a complete elimination of the sentencing disparity between the two because pharmacologically, crack and powder cocaine are the same psychoactive compound and, he said, are equally addictive.

"From a drug-abuse perspective, 1 to 1 made more sense to me," General McCaffrey said.

But, he said, he ultimately accepted the argument of Federal law-enforcement officials, including Ms. Reno, that crack must continue to be punished more severely, on the ground that it continues to be associated with greater violence, particularly among street-level dealers, than the powder form.

Ms. Reno and General McCaffrey submitted their recommendation in response to Mr. Clinton's request that they study a report issued on April 29 by the United States Sentencing Commission, which draws up sentencing guidelines for the Federal courts.

In that report, the commission proposed that Congress change-the five- years crack threshold from 5 grams to a level somewhere between 25 and 75 grams, and that it adjust the threshold for powder cocaine from the current 500 grams to a level somewhere between 125 and 375 grams.In their letter, Attorney General Reno and General McCaffrey said the disparity "has become an important symbol of racial injustice in our criminal justice system.""We cannot turn a blind eye," they added, "to the corrosive effect this has had on respect for the law in certain communities and on the effective administration of justice"The letter also said the disparity was largely outdated, since research showed that "crack use has stabilized" and "the violence associated with crack dealing has dropped."Now that Ms. Reno and General McCaffrey have acted, it is unclear whether Congress will go along with them, at a time when politicians are particularly sensitive to accusations of being soft on drugs. In February 1995, Congress, wit

hMr. Clinton's encouragement, rejected a previous proposal by the commission that the cocaine sentencing disparity be all but eliminated.

But General McCaffrey said he and the Attorney General would try to convince Congress that narrowing the disparity was a prudent and balanced approach to fighting drugs.

"We want the senate and House," ha said, "to have a chance to listen to the rational arguments connected with this approach."