[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 28, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S734]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BREAUX:
  S. 209. A bill to increase the penalty for trafficking in powdered 
cocaine to the same level as the penalty for trafficking in crack 
cocaine, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.


                  Illegal Drug Trafficking Legislation

 Mr. BREAUX. Mr. President, last year I was shocked to learn of 
the huge difference that exists between the Federal penalties for 
trafficking powder cocaine and for trafficking the exact same amount of 
crack cocaine.
  Right now, selling five grams of crack cocaine results in the same 5-
year mandatory minimum prison term as selling 500 grams of powder 
cocaine. Selling 50 grams of crack cocaine gets you a 10-year minimum 
sentence, while you'd have to sell 5,000 grams of powder cocaine to get 
the same 10 years in prison.
  While these penalties are vastly different--100 times greater if you 
sell crack cocaine--the damage caused by these criminal acts are the 
same. Lives are lost, families are destroyed, careers are ruined, and 
our Nation itself is seriously threatened.
  Tough penalties are necessary to send a clear signal that the United 
States will not tolerate selling illegal drugs. The answer to the 
problem presented by this wide difference in penalties is not to lower 
penalties for selling crack cocaine but to increase the penalties for 
selling powder cocaine.
  Therefore, my legislation is very simple and very clear. 
Trafficking--that is the manufacture, distribution, or sale--of 50 
grams of powder cocaine will result in a 10-year minimum sentence--the 
same as dealing in crack cocaine.
  Manufacture, distribution or sale of 5 grams of powder cocaine will 
result in a 5-year minimum sentence--the same as dealing in crack 
cocaine.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass a bill that 
deters the use of all cocaine--powder and crack.
                                 ______