Narcotics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Narcotics - Research Paper Example A five year ban was imposed on people found with five grams of crack whereas a similar mandatory ban was imposed on people who possessed 500 grams of powder cocaine. It was because of this disparity that another act was implemented in year of 2010 known as The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. This act lowered the ratio of possession of crack cocaine to powder cocaine in relevant terms of 100:1 into 18:1. The act has been praised by many authorities as it tends to lower down the disparity between the people who used to commit these crimes and also save millions of dollars for the government (FAMM 2011; Stewart 2010). The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 was signed by President Obama to lower the disparity between the crimes which involved powder cocaine or crack. The Act is not only being implemented for the people who will commit the crime but it is also being made retroactive so that people who are sentenced for the act are allowed some concession too. The Act was introduced after years of reports and research which proved that powder and crack were almost the same drugs with the same lethality. In 1995 the USSC issued a report to the Congress about the Anti Drug Abuse Act of 1986. It put forward that 80% of the crack offenders were black and this was causing serious racial disparities between the races as these blacks were considering the Act to be biased. It was in 1995 that an act was being sought by the USSC regarding the disparity but such an attempt was rejected by the Congress then. In 2002 another report was filed by the USSC which put forward that pharmacologically the harmful effects of c rack were similar to that of powder cocaine. It also put forward that the amount of violence in the crimes involving crime were being exaggerated by the reports and was rather creating a disparity of races. In 2007 the USSC filed another report to the Congress which appealed