Crack Addiction

Q.) How widespread is cocaine and crack addiction?

A.) In 1997, there were approximately 1.5 million regular users of crack cocaine or powdered cocaine.

• 1-tenth of the population - over 22 million people have tried cocaine or crack cocaine.
• Each day 5,000 more people will experiment with cocaine or crack cocaine.
• Cocaine is a $35 billion illicit industry now exceeding Columbia's #1 export, coffee.
• 1 in 10 workers say they know someone who uses cocaine or crack cocaine on the job.

Q.) What are the legal consequences of crack cocaine?

A.) Crack cocaine is the only drug for which the first offense of simple possession can trigger a federal mandatory minimum sentence. Possession of 5 grams of crack will trigger a 5 year mandatory minimum sentence. "Simple possession of any quantity of any other substance by a first-time offender-including powder cocaine-is a misdemeanor offense punishable by a maximum of one year in prison." (21 U.S.C. 844.)

Source: US Sentencing Commission, Special Report to Congress: Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy (Washington DC: US Sentencing Commission, February 1995), p. iii.

In federal court today, low-level crack dealers and first-time offenders sentenced for trafficking of crack cocaine receive an average sentence of 10 years and six months. This is:

--only 18% less than the average prison sentence received by those who committed murder or manslaughter (153 months);
--59% longer than the average prison sentence received by rapists (79 months);
--38% longer than the average prison sentence received by those guilty of weapons offenses (91 months).

Source: US Sentencing Commission, Special Report to the Congress: Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy (Washington DC: US Sentencing Commission, February 1995), p. 150; Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1996 (Washington DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1997), p. 476, Table 5.58.

The Sentencing Commission also notes a problem regarding "prosecutorial and investigative sentencing manipulation. For example, because powder cocaine is easily converted into crack cocaine and because the penalties for crack cocaine offenses are significantly higher than for similar quantity powder cocaine offenses, law enforcement and prosecutorial decisions to wait until powder has been converted into crack can have a dramatic impact on a defendant's final sentence."

Source: US Sentencing Commission, Special Report to the Congress: Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy (Washington, DC: US Sentencing Commission, April 1997), p. 8.