{"id":275,"date":"2010-11-01T13:40:49","date_gmt":"2010-11-01T18:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=275"},"modified":"2010-12-06T14:05:00","modified_gmt":"2010-12-06T20:05:00","slug":"facts-can-be-irrelevant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=275","title":{"rendered":"Facts Can Be Irrelevant"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When it comes to passing legislation that creates or enhances penalties for drug possession, Congress rarely cares about facts.\u00a0 The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937<\/a> was one of the first laws passed by Congress based on anything but facts.\u00a0 It was, matter-of-factly, based upon sensationalized editorials written by William Randolph Hearst<\/a>, owner of a huge chain of newspapers.\u00a0 Hearst was more than the grandfather of infamous Patty Hearst<\/a>; he was the granddaddy of \u201cyellow journalism<\/a>\u201d, an approach to journalism that uses fake stories and interviews, phony photos, and the distortion of real events.<\/p>\n

Almost 50 years later, Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986.\u00a0 The law created a 100:1 ratio in the disparity in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine.\u00a0 Again, the basis of this ridiculous ratio between two versions of the same drug was rumor, innuendo, fabrication, and political hyperbole.\u00a0 Crack cocaine is made from powder cocaine.\u00a0 It materializes after a process known as freebasing<\/a>, removing the hydrochloride, a water soluble salt, to make powder into a solid chunk or rock.\u00a0 Smoking crack will get you higher faster than snorting cocaine, but snorting the powder will last a heck of a lot longer.<\/p>\n

Iowa was one of a few states that adopted the federal ratio of 100:1.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t until 2003 that Iowa legislators reduced the ratio from 100:1 to 10:1.\u00a0 It is possible that the outlandish ratio is one of the causes of Iowa\u2019s disproportionate imprisonment<\/a> of African-Americans.\u00a0 Although it is believed that the percentage of drug users across ethnic and cultural lines is basically equal<\/a>, African-Americans and Latinos are incarcerated at higher rates than their white counterparts, especially in Iowa.<\/p>\n

So, to begin, a crack dealer needs cocaine.\u00a0 The dealer heats the cocaine with baking soda and recovers the chemical reaction that rises to the top. \u00a0That solid piece of what remains is the crack. \u201cAccording to the DEA and Sentencing Commission, one gram of cocaine powder converts\/reduces to 0.89 gram cocaine base.\u201d\u00a0 http:\/\/edocket.access.gpo.gov\/2010\/2010-24648.htm<\/a>. \u00a0In other words, beginning with 100 grams of cocaine powder (about the weight of a half roll of quarters, the dealer can produce approximately 89 grams of crack (take a couple of quarters out of that \u00bd roll).\u00a0 Before the chemical transformation, the penalty for possessing those 100 grams of cocaine in Iowa would be a class \u201cC\u201d felony, ten years in prison.\u00a0 After the transformation, the possession of the 89 grams of crack in Iowa is a Super class \u201cB\u201d felony, 50 years in prison.\u00a0 \u201cThis disparity means that a major supplier of powder cocaine may receive a shorter sentence than a low-level dealer who buys powder from the supplier but then converts it to crack.\u201d\u00a0 Kimbrough v. US<\/em><\/a>, 128 S.Ct. 558, 566 (2007).<\/p>\n

Last week, a committee of the state\u2019s Public Safety Advisory Board (PSAB) discussed this matter for almost 3 hours.\u00a0 The Iowa Department of Corrections presented a proposal to equalize the sentences for equal amounts of cocaine\/crack since \u201cnumerous studies have shown that the physiological and psychotropic effects of crack and powder cocaine are the same, and the drugs are now widely acknowledged as pharmacologically identical.\u201d\u00a0 Unfortunately, the department was willing to compromise as a result of pressure from law enforcement agencies.\u00a0 The proposed compromise reduces the disparity to a couple of different percentages pulled out of mid-air, but it remains far from equalization.<\/p>\n

Some would like to see the criminal sanctions for powder cocaine raised to match that of crack.\u00a0 However, there are several problems with that reaction.\u00a0 First, adjusting thresholds for powder cocaine will make a point that cocaine is a more troublesome drug than heroin, or meth.\u00a0 Second, decreasing a threshold for amounts of powder possessed, bringing it down to current crack levels, will increase the population of Iowa\u2019s prisons \u2013 already over capacity; thereby increasing the dollar costs to maintain those prisons.\u00a0 Legislators are not about to frivolously spend money on additional prison beds in this grim economy.<\/p>\n

The committee has not agreed to the compromise at this time; the Iowa Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning Commission<\/a> (CJJP) of the Iowa Department of Human Rights is going to conduct further research on projected results.\u00a0 Nonetheless, even if the committee recommends a proposal to the PSAB, it may mean very little in terms of accomplishing the enactment of legislation this year that will address the disparity in sentencing between two pharmacologically identical drugs.\u00a0 A committee proposal\/compromise to the full PSAB may be shot down.\u00a0 Even if it\u2019s accepted by the PSAB, it may be rejected by the Iowa Legislature.\u00a0 Either way, it\u2019s nice to see people talking about this discrepancy rather than brushing it off as a political hot potato.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny how Congress and the State of Iowa can create a law based on thin air, but once facts are produced, explained, and emphasized, it is extremely difficult to change minds and hearts \u2013 and especially the law.<\/p>\n

Keep following this issue by subscribing to Fawkes-Lee & Ryan posts and emails.\u00a0 Up-to-date emails are not posted, but are received by subscribers to specific issues.\u00a0 See more details at:\u00a0 https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?page_id=195<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Copyright 2010.\u00a0 Fawkes-Lee & Ryan.\u00a0 All rights reserved.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s funny how Congress and the State of Iowa can create a law based on thin air, but once facts are produced, explained, and emphasized, it is extremely difficult to change minds and hearts \u2013 and especially the law. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,17],"tags":[100,95,101,104,103,102,34,97,96,98,99],"class_list":["post-275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-criminal-justice","category-issues","tag-anti-drug-abuse-act-of-1986","tag-crack-cocaine","tag-freebasing","tag-iowa-cjjp","tag-iowa-department-of-corrections","tag-kimbrough","tag-law-enforcement","tag-marijuana-tax-act-of-1937","tag-powder-cocaine","tag-william-randolph-hearst","tag-yellow-journalism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=275"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":320,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions\/320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}