My first Magazine Final Draft Multimodal Project 4 | Page 15

One positive development in reversing the damage brought about by the War on Drugs
was the advent of the Fair Sentencing Act, of 2010. There were two significant alterations made
under this act that have had a tremendous impact on the number of people, especially minorities,
being sentenced to lengthy sentences for crack cocaine charges. The Act reduced mandatory min-
imum sentences for possession of the drug. Prior to 2010, a paltry 5 grams of crack was suffi-
cient to land one in jail for five years. Following the FSA’s passing, this amount was upped to 28
grams (ussc.gov). Additionally, the disparity between crack and powder cocaine, widely criti-
cized as a black versus white, two-tiered system of injustice was altered. Since the 1980’s the
100:1 ratio had monopolized headlines for its unfair prosecution of minorities. Following the leg-
islation enacted in the FSA, the ratio plummeted to 18:1.
Hippie, Ben. “Prejudice of Poor Reflected in Crack Cocaine vs. Simple Cocaine Crime Sentencing.” Drugs Forum, 22 Feb. 2015,
drugs-forum.com/ams/prejudice-of-poor-reflected-in-crack-cocaine-vs-simple-cocaine-crime-sentencing.23171/.
The results of these new laws have had a dramatic impact on the number of minorities being sen-
tenced to prison for crack cocaine offenses, effectively ending the systemized racism that had