US drug laws condemned as racist

The White House has proclaimed a "historic" breakthrough in the war on drugs even as its use of racially skewed prison sentences is being challenged in the Supreme Court. According to figures released by the Office of Drug Control Policy, there has been "an unprecedented decline" in drug supply, which has led to the average price for a gram of cocaine rising to a five-year high of almost $120. The Bush Administration is preparing to announce an additional $1 billion in aid to fight Mexican cartels on top of the $19 billion it already spends each year in the war on drugs. But critics say that the money does not take account of the estimated $30 billion a year spent jailing almost 500,000 drug offenders, as well as the incalculable costs for black Americans, who bear the brunt of the crackdown. There has been a 1,100 per cent increase in the number of people jailed for drug offenses since the war on drugs was launched in the 1980s, according to the Sentencing Project think-tank. And although black Americans comprise only 14 percent of regular drug users, they represent about half of those in jail for drug offenses. A primary cause of this disparity appears to be "100-to-1" sentencing laws, which require crack offenses to carry far longer jail sentences than crimes involving ordinary cocaine, which is no less addictive. This means that a mandatory five-year prison term for selling 5 grams of crack is the same as for selling 500 grams of powdered cocaine. Multiple offenses can lead to life sentences. The Supreme Court considered on Tuesday two drug cases where judges had tried to use discretion rather than follow federal guidelines. But even if the court allows flexibility in sentences, only an Act of Congress can change the mandatory terms. Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, said that the sentences were one of the reasons why African American males were seven times more likely to go to jail than whites. He added that 82 per cent of federal prosecutions for crack involved black people and were mostly low level offences. "Whether or not this was the intention of Congress back in 1986, the racially disparate impact on the African American population has been evident for some time." Police also targeted inner-city areas and poor neighborhoods where drug sales were more likely to be in the open, he said. Once in court black drug defendants have a 20 percent greater chance of being jailed than whites -- and are likely to be given longer sentences, according to the think tank. There is skepticism among policy experts that the latest successes in reducing supply have more to do with the falling value of the dollar against the Euro and the pound. Mauer said that the war on drugs had failed: "Instead it has taken a generation of black young men and subjected them to long-term incarceration. Prison is now almost part of the life cycle in many communities."