Today, Tuesday August 3, 2010, President Barack Obama signed a bill making the difference between federal mandatory sentence convictions for crack cocaine and powder cocaine smaller. The bill also eliminates the mandatory five year minimum sentencing for the possession of crack. Obama believes the wide sentencing difference between the two substances is unwarranted and needs to be changed. The law, made in 1986, has sentenced tens of thousands of black people to long prisons terms for crack possession. In the 80’s when crack cocaine was at its peak, it was considered a violent drug because it was so high in demand to users in the streets. A person holding five grams of crack, (mainly black people) received the same mandatory prison sentence as someone with 500 … Read entire article »