Journey for Justice Press Release: Washington, DC

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Thu, 31 Oct 2002 - Washington, DC
From The November Coalition and Common Sense for Drug Policy
Compiled by Kevin Zeese, President of CSDP

Four that Didn't Get Caught

President George W. Bush
Question: Did George W. use drugs?
"George W. Bush certainly did drugs until 1974."
Source: Nicholas Kristoff, NY Times reporter who profiled Bush in a series of articles for the paper, 8/1/00 on NPR's Fresh Air

In August of 1999, Bush told reporters that he had not used illegal drugs in the past 25 years. Bush declared that if voters objected to his refusal to reveal more "they can go find somebody else to vote for."
Source: John Affleck, Associated Press; 8/26/99

"As I understand it, the current forms asks the question, 'Did somebody use drugs within the last seven years?' and I will be glad to answer that question, and the answer is 'No.'"
"Not only could I pass the background check and the standard applied to today's White House, but I could have passed the background check and the standards applied on the most stringent conditions when my dad was president of the United States--a 15-year period," Mr. Bush said. Spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said Bush had effectively denied drug usage in a period beginning 15 years before his father took office in 1989--or since 1974, when 53 year old Bush was 28.
Source: John Affleck, Associated Press; 8/26/99

"If voters don't like that answer, if voters want me to inventory something I did 25 to 30 years ago, then they can vote for somebody else," he said.
While Bush would not talk about drug use between the ages of 18 and 28, he responded to a question about whether he used drugs while he was in the Texas Air National Guard from 1968 to 1973 by saying: "I never would have done anything to jeopardize myself. I got airborne and I got on the ground very successfully."
Last year, he explained his discretion as an effort to avoid leading the little ones astray. "If I were you," he told a reporter, "I wouldn't tell your kids that you smoked pot unless you want them to smoke pot. I don't want some kid saying, 'Well, Gov. Bush did it.'"
Sources: www.mapinc.org

It seems Bush will do anything to avoid the drug issue... When Bush was preparing for the New Hampshire primary in January 2000, it was reported that Bush canceled a street-walking tour of one community because, "about 20 people advocating legalization of marijuana were awaiting him there."
Source: Clay Robison & R.G. Ratcliffe, Houston Chronicle; 1/31/00

President Bill Clinton
"When I was in England I experimented with marijuana a time or two and didn't like it," Clinton said. "I didn't inhale and I didn't try it again."
Source: Michael Holmes, "Bush Rips Question About Drug Use But Refuses to Answer." Thursday, Aug. 19, 1999. Abilene Reporter-News

House Speaker Newt Gingrich
"Smoking marijuana was a sign we were alive and in graduate school in that era."
Former US Representative Newt Gingrich admitting that he smoked marijuana when he was in college.
Source: Hilary Stout, Wall Street Journal; 8/8/96

Nov. 7, 1987: GOP Rep. Newt Gingrich admits he tried marijuana "once at a party."
Source: ABCNews.com Political Nation, Dodging the Drug Question. David Phinney. Aug. 19, 2001.

Vice President Albert Gore
"During my junior and senior year of college, it was looked at in the same way moonshine was looked at in Prohibition days."
Source: Newsweek, 11/16/87

Mr. Gore said he first tried marijuana at the end of his junior year at Harvard and used it again at the beginning of his senior year the next fall. He also said he used the drug "once or twice" while off-duty in an Army tour at Bien Hoa, Vietnam; on several occasions while he was in graduate school at Vanderbilt University and when he was an employee of a Nashville newspaper.
Sources: The Nashville Tennessean; Source: Adam J. Smith, "New Bio Alleges Gore Used Marijuana Regularly for Years," January 20, 2000. DRCNet.

In an interview with John Warneke, former friend and colleague of Gore at The Tennessean , the frequency of Gore's past marijuana use came into question. In 1988, Al Gore called his friend John Warneke and asked him not to talk to the press about [Gore's] past drug use. Warneke stated, "[Gore] called me three times in one morning and he said, 'Don't talk to the press at all about this.' That's a stonewall, and it's another form of lying. But I couldn't do that. But I was torn. I felt a debt to The Tennessean , a paper that taught me everything about the truth. And I had a friendship with Al. So I came up with this half-truth. And that was, that Al had tried it a couple of times with me and he didn't like pot."

Trapper: "So when did you and Gore smoke pot?"

Warneke: "We started in 1970, I think. At my house in Nashville. He likes pot. He told me he smoked it before. I smoked it with Al before he went to Vietnam. And he told me he smoked over there in Vietnam. But now that I know how Al talks about it as opposed with what he really does, I don't know what to believe."

Trapper: "But he was a senator's son at the time. Wasn't he worried about being caught?"

Warneke: "He was paranoid. When he smoked in my house he would run around in my house and he would close all the blinds. If it was night he'd turn all the lights out. He's look out the windows and make sure that no one was watching. And then he would light up. Talk about paranoia. We played pool in the dark once. That's how a senator's son smoked pot."

Trapper: "You haven't talked to him in 10 years?"

Warneke: "No, he hasn't called since the day he asked me to stonewall in 1988. And here I've been holding this lie up. I lied to the New York Times; I was in tears when I lied to them. And when my [second] wife died, I didn't get a letter or a note from him."
Source: Jack Trapper, salon.com; 1/22/00.

One former reporter at The Tennessean, Ken Jost, confirmed that Gore has used marijuana while at the Tennessean , but to a lesser extent than what Warneke reported. Three other staff members would not say what they did or did not see, including Tennessean editor Frank Sutherland and Warneke's former wife, Nancy Rhoda.
Source: Laura Frank and Sheila Wissner, The Tennessean; 1/28/00

Relatives of Politicians ­ Not Treated Like the Rest of Us

Noelle Bush - Niece of President George W. Bush, Daughter of FL Governor Jeb Bush
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter Noelle was sentenced to 10 days in the Orange County Jail on October 17, 2002 by Circuit Judge Reginald Whitehead. Although Whitehead did not discuss the reason for her jailing in open court, it was clear that the sanctions came as the result of a Sept. 9 incident in whichcrack cocaine was found in her show while undergoing drug treatment at the Center for Drug Free Living, police reported. Noelle Bush was accompanied by her aunt, Dorothy Cook of Bethesda, Md., as well as her two attorneys. She was led away in handcuffs to be booked into the jail. Before Whitehead issued his order, Bush said, "Judge Whitehead, I sincerely apologize for what happened, and I promise to do well at the Center for Drug-Free Living."

Whitehead told Bush that he was disappointed in her but he added he believed she could complete drug treatment successfully and was allowing her to stay in the program. "I want you to have some time to think and reflect on this," Whitehead said. "You should be disappointed that you let yourself down." The judge added that she hoped Bush learned a lesson. "You have to learn from your mistake," he said. "This is a great opportunity for yourself to see if you can do well." Bush was placed in the drug court system after she was accused of trying to use a fake prescription to buy the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in Tallahassee in January. Prior to Noelle Bush's sentencing an Orange County circuit judge denied a request from attorneys to close drug-court proceedings to the public.

Morgan Grams - Son of Senator Rod Grams (R-MN)
Grams "was stopped in July in a borrowed rental vehicle after his father called the Anoka County sheriff for help finding his son. A deputy found 10 bags of marijuana and the beer cans in the Isuzu Rodeo,"
Source: Associated Press 1/12/00.

Grams had been previously jailed twice on drug-related offenses. Chief Deputy Peter Beberg "found Grams driving a sport utility truck with 10 bags of marijuana inside-an unspecified amount. A 17-year-old passenger was charged with possession of nine of the bags and later spent time at a juvenile detention center. The 10th bag was found under Gram's seat, according to a report by deputy Todd Diegnau,"
Source: Associated Press 11/14/99.

Richard Riley, Jr. - Son of Education Secretary Richard Riley
Riley, Jr. was sentenced to six months' house arrest in June of 1993 for conspiring to sell up to 25 grams of cocaine and 100 grams of marijuana in South Carolina. The initial charges carried a penalty of ten years to life in prison. Riley's light sentence allowed him to continue his work at an environmental consulting firm.
Source: James Bovard, "Prison Sentences of the Politically Connected," Playboy; July 1999.

Gayle Rosten - Daughter of former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL)
Rosten was charged with possession of 29 grams of cocaine with intent to deliver in June of 1990. Rosten, facing up to 15 years in prison, plead guilty to a lesser charge, received three years probation and 20 hours of public service, paid a fine of $2800, and forfeited the car in which the cocaine was found. Three years later, Rosten was found with a gram of cocaine in her possession. In violation of her probation, Rosten could have faced up to three years in prison. However, the charge was dismissed by one judge, then reinstated after Rosten was indicted by a county grand jury. On April 12, 1994 Cook County Circuit Judge Michael Toomin ruled that the search of Rosten had been illegal. Ironically, Judge Toomin ruled that the packets of cocaine were admissible evidence against the two passengers that supposedly "dropped" the packets in Rosten's car.
Source: James Bovard, "Prison Sentences of the Politically Connected," Playboy; July 1999.

Cindy McCain - Wife of former Presidential candidate Senator John McCain (R-AZ)
Ms. McCain "admitted stealing Percocet and Vicodin from the American Voluntary Medical Team, an organization that aids Third World countries. Percocet and Vicodin are schedule 2 drugs, in the same legal category as opium. Each pill theft carries a penalty of one year in prison and a monetary fine." However, McCain did not face prosecution. She was allowed to enter a pretrial diversion program and escaped with no blemish to her record.
Source: James Bovard, "Prison Sentences of the Politically Connected," Playboy; July 1999.

Dan Burton, II - Son of Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN)
Burton was busted in January of 1994 on charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Allegedly, Burton II was transporting seven pounds of marijuana in a car from Texas to Indiana when he was caught in Louisiana. Burton II plead guilty to felony charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Rather than face ten to sixteen months in federal prison, Burton was sentenced to five years probation, 2000 hours of community service, three years of house arrest and random drug screening. Five month later police found 30 marijuana plants and a shotgun in Burton's apartment in Indianapolis. Under federal mandatory minimum rules, Burton should have received at least five years in federal prison, plus a year or more for arrest while on probation. State prosecutors decided that the total weight of marijuana from the 30 plants was 25 grams (about one ounce), thus reducing the charge to a misdemeanor. The Indiana prosecutor threw out all the charges against him saying, "I didn't see any sense in putting him on probation a second time."
Source: James Bovard, "Prison Sentences of the Politically Connected," Playboy; July 1999.

John Murtha - Son of Rep. John Murtha (D-PA)
Murtha received a sentence of 11 to 23 months in jail after pleading guilty to selling a gram of cocaine to an informant. Murtha has been busted for two burglaries in 1980 and for armed robbery in 1985. Murtha was on parole at the time of his arrest and could have faced more than ten years in prison if he'd been prosecuted under federal guidelines. The judge hearing Murtha's case allowed him to temporarily withdraw a plea bargain and resubmit it at later date so he could enter the jail's school-release program and continue his education.
Source: James Bovard, "Prison Sentences of the Politically Connected," Playboy; July 1999.

Susan Gallo - Daughter of former Representative Dean Gallo (R-NJ)
Gallo was charged with five counts of cocaine possession, five counts of intent to distribute, five counts of distribution, and five counts of conspiracy. Facing five to ten years in prison for each charge, Gallo plead guilty to one count of distribution and one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Gallo was sentenced to five years' probation in 1992.
Source: James Bovard, "Prison Sentences of the Politically Connected," Playboy; July 1999.

Warren Bachus - Son of Congressman Spencer Bachus (R-AL)
Bachus was busted in 1993 for possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Bachus was not convicted and in a "pretrial diversion remedy," he was set free. Bachus paid $56 in court expenses and was required to submit to drug testing twice in the following six months.
Source: James Bovard, "Prison Sentences of the Politically Connected," Playboy; July 1999.

Josef Hinchey - Son of Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)
Hinchey was charged with intent to distribute individual cocaine doses. Hinchey could have been sentenced to 20 years in prison. He plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and received a sentence of 13 months in prison. The prison term was suspended until Hinchey completed a drug-treatment program.
Source: James Bovard, "Prison Sentences of the Politically Connected," Playboy; July 1999.

Al Gore III - Son of Vice President Al Gore (D)
Gore was caught smoking what appeared to be marijuana by school authorities at St. Alban's School. Al III was suspended as a result of the incident. While the story appeared in the foreign press, the story was suppressed in the US media. London's Daily Telegraph charged, "The crusading American media and Washington's political elite have closed ranks to protect Vice President Gore from embarrassment over his teenage son's indiscretion."
Source: James Bovard, "Prison Sentences of the Politically Connected," Playboy; July 1999.

Claude Shelby - Son of Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL)
Shelby was arrested at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport on drug charges, where a US Custom's drug-sniffing dog found 13.8 grams of hashish in his possession. Shelby was given a $500 administrative penalty and turned over to Clayton County Sheriff's Department for prosecution.

On July 24, authorities at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport arrested Claude Shelby, the youngest son of U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R_AL), for possession of 13.8 grams of hashish. Claude Shelby, 32, is married and has one child. Sen. Shelby is chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

U.S. Customs Service inspectors found the hashish in Shelby's possession using a drug_sniffing dog. Shelby, who had arrived on a flight from London, was issued a $500 fine, which he paid on the spot. He was then turned over to the Clayton County Sheriff's Department for state prosecution.

Responding to the incident, Sen. Richard Shelby responded that he and his family were "shocked and saddened" by the charge but that he would "stand by him through this difficult ordeal." The senior Shelby added, "My position on fighting drugs is well known. It continues to be a priority for me regardless of personal circumstances."
Source: "Drug Charge," USA Today, July 29, 1998, p. 6A

"The senator may find it hard to be stoic if his drug-fighting colleagues in the House have their way," said Monica Pratt, communications director for Families Against Mandatory Minimums, in an op-ed in the Atlanta Constitution. Pratt was referring to the "Drug Importer Death Penalty Act" (HR 41), introduced by House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), which would mandate a life sentence without parole for offenders who import "100 usual dosage amounts" of a controlled substance, and a death sentence for such offenders with a prior conviction for a similar drug offense. The measure does not define what amounts constitute "100 usual dosages." Pratt said, "Under this broad definition, Claude Shelby's 13.8 grams of hashish could be enough to qualify him for life imprisonment. The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines provide that 1 gram of hashish is the equivalent of 5 grams of marijuana and that 1 gram of marijuana is two doses.

"Luckily for the senior Shelby, he will not know the pain of visiting his son in prison for the rest of his life. . .Perhaps his son's brush with the law will convince the senator that life_and_death sentencing policies are not trifling matters to be bandied about during election_year politicking," said Pratt.
Source: Monica Pratt, "Congress comes into the courtroom," Atlanta Constitution, August 12, 1998

Darlene Watts - Sister of US Rep. J.C. Watts, Jr. (R-OK)
Darlene Watts, 34, the sister of U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts (R_OK), the new House Republican Caucus Chairman, the number four position in the House leadership, was given a seven_year suspended sentence after successfully completing a boot camp program for nonviolent offenders. Darlene Watts was charged with possession and distribution of marijuana, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, and maintaining a property where drugs were kept. She pleaded guilty to six drug_related counts in March 1998
Source: Associated Press, "Watts' Kin Gets Term Suspended," July 20, 1998.

Facts: Mass Incarceration of the Drug War Highlights Hypocrisy and Racism

The United States operates the biggest prison system on the planet.
Source: Currie, E., Crime and Punishment in America (New York, NY: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1998), p. 3.

"Prisoners sentenced for drug offenses constitute the largest group of Federal inmates (57%) in 2000, up from 53% in 1990 (table 20). On September 30, 2000, the date of the latest available data in the Federal Justice Statistics Program, Federal prisons held 73,389 sentenced drug offenders, compared to 30,470 at yearend 1990."
Source: Harrison, Paige M. & Allen J. Beck, PhD, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2001 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, July 2002), p. 14.

Over 80% of the increase in the federal prison population from 1985 to 1995 was due to drug convictions.
Source: US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 1996 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, 1997).

"The United States has the highest prison population rate in the world, some 700 per 100,000 of the national population, followed by Russia (665), the Cayman Islands (600), Belarus (555), the US Virgin Islands (550), Kazakhstan (520), Turkmenistan (490), the Bahamas (480), Belize (460), and Bermuda (445). "However, almost two thirds of countries (63%) have rates of 150 per 100,000 or below. (The United Kingdom's rate of 125 per 100,000 of the national population places it at about the mid-point in the World List. Among European Union countries its rate is the second highest, after Portugal's 130.)"
Source: Walmsley, Roy, "World Prison Population List (Third Edition)" (London, England, UK: Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate, 2002), p. 1.

"The total number of State and Federal inmates grew from 400,000 in 1982 to nearly 1,300,000 in 1999. This was accompanied by the opening of over 600 State and at least 51 Federal correctional facilities. The number of local jail inmates also tripled, from approximately 200,000 in 1982 to 600,000 in 1999. Adults on probation increased from over 1.3 to nearly 3.8 million persons. Overall corrections employment more than doubled from nearly 300,000 to over 716,000 during this period."
Source: Gifford, Sidra Lea, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1999 (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, February 2002), p. 7.

"Overall, the United States incarcerated 2,100,146 persons at yearend 2001." This total represents persons held in:

Federal and State Prisons	1,324,465 (which excludes State and Federal prisoners in local jails
Local Jails	631,240
Juvenile Facilities	108,965 (as of October 1999)
Territorial Prisons	15,852
INS Facilities	8,761
Military Facilities	2,436
Jails in Indian Country	1,912

Source: Harrison, Paige M. & Allen J. Beck, PhD, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2001 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, July 2002), p. 1.

There were 5.9 million adults in the 'correctional population' by the end of 1998. This means that 2.9% of the U.S. adult population -- 1 in every 34 -- was incarcerated, on probation or on parole.
Source: Bonczar, Thomas & Glaze, Lauren, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Probation and Parole in the United States (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, August 1999), p. 1.

Assuming recent incarceration rates remain unchanged, an estimated 1 of every 20 Americans (5%) can be expected to serve time in prison during their lifetime. For African-American men, the number is greater than 1 in 4 (28.5%).
Source: Bonczar, T.P. & Beck, Allen J., US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Lifetime Likelihood of Going to State or Federal Prison (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, March 1997), p. 1.

"The racially disproportionate nature of the war on drugs is not just devastating to black Americans. It contradicts faith in the principles of justice and equal protection of the laws that should be the bedrock of any constitutional democracy; it exposes and deepens the racial fault lines that continue to weaken the country and belies its promise as a land of equal opportunity; and it undermines faith among all races in the fairness and efficacy of the criminal justice system. Urgent action is needed, at both the state and federal level, to address this crisis for the American nation."
Source: Key Recommendations from Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs (Washington, DC: Human Rights Watch, June 2000).

The table below shows the average sentence (mean and median) imposed on Federal prisoners for various offenses in 2000.

Average Federal Sentence:
Offense:	Mean:	Median:
All Offenses	56.8 months	33.0 months
All Felonies	58.0 months	36.0 months
Violent Felonies	(no data)	63.0 months
Drug Felonies	75.6 months	55.0 months
Property Felony - Fraud	22.5 months	14.0 months
Property Felony - Other	33.4 months	18.0 months
Public Order Felony - Regulatory	28.0 months	15.0 months
Public Order Felony - Other	46.5 months	30.0 months
Misdemeanors	10.3 months	6.0 months

Source:US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Federal Criminal Case Processing, 2000, With Trends 1982-2000 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, November 2001), p. 12, Table 6.

According to the federal Household Survey, "most current illicit drug users are white. There were an estimated 9.9 million whites (72 percent of all users), 2.0 million blacks (15 percent), and 1.4 million Hispanics (10 percent) who were current illicit drug users in 1998." And yet, blacks constitute 36.8% of those arrested for drug violations, over 42% of those in federal prisons for drug violations. African-Americans comprise almost 58% of those in state prisons for drug felonies; Hispanics account for 20.7%.
Source:Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Summary Report 1998 (Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 1999), p. 13; Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1998 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, August 1999), p. 343, Table 4.10, p. 435, Table 5.48, and p. 505, Table 6.52; Beck, Allen J., Ph.D. and Mumola, Christopher J., Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 1998 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, August 1999), p. 10, Table 16; Beck, Allen J., PhD, and Paige M. Harrison, US Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, August 2001), p. 11, Table 16.

Among persons convicted of drug felonies in state courts, whites were less likely than African-Americans to be sent to prison. Thirty-three percent (33%) of convicted white defendants received a prison sentence, while 51% of African-American defendants received prison sentences. It should also be noted that Hispanic felons are included in both demographic groups rather than being tracked separately so no separate statistic is available.
Source:Durose, Matthew R., and Langan, Patrick A., Bureau of Justice Statistics, State Court Sentencing of Convicted Felons, 1998 Statistical Tables (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, December 2001).

At the start of the 1990s, the U.S. had more Black men (between the ages of 20 and 29) under the control of the nation's criminal justice system than the total number in college. This and other factors have led some scholars to conclude that, "crime control policies are a major contributor to the disruption of the family, the prevalence of single parent families, and children raised without a father in the ghetto, and the 'inability of people to get the jobs still available.'"
Source: Craig Haney, Ph.D., and Philip Zimbardo, Ph.D., "The Past and Future of U.S. Prison Policy: Twenty-five Years After the Stanford Prison Experiment," American Psychologist, Vol. 53, No. 7 (July 1998), p. 716.

1.46 million black men out of a total voting population of 10.4 million have lost their right to vote due to felony convictions.
Source: Thomas, P., "Study Suggests Black Male Prison Rate Impinges on Political Process," The Washington Post (January 30, 1997), p. A3.

"Thirteen percent of all adult black men -- 1.4 million -- are disenfranchised, representing one-third of the total disenfranchised population and reflecting a rate of disenfranchisement that is seven times the national average. Election voting statistics offer an approximation of the political importance of black disenfranchisement: 1.4 million black men are disenfranchised compared to 4.6 million black men who voted in 1996."
Source:Fellner, Jamie and Mauer, Marc, "Losing the Vote: The Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States" (Washington, DC: Human Rights Watch & The Sentencing Project, 1998), p. 8. Election statistics cited are from the US Census Bureau, "Voting and Registration in the Election of November 1996" (p20-504), July 1998.

One in three black men between the ages of 20 and 29 years old is under correctional supervision or control.
Source:Mauer, M. & Huling, T., Young Black Americans and the Criminal Justice System: Five Years Later (Washington DC: The Sentencing Project, 1995).

At current levels of incarceration, newborn Black males in this country have a greater than 1 in 4 chance of going to prison during their lifetimes, while Latin-American males have a 1 in 6 chance, and white males have a 1 in 23 chance of serving time.
Source: Bonczar, T.P. & Beck, Allen J., Bureau of Justice Statistics, Lifetime Likelihood of Going to State or Federal Prison (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, March 1997).

In 1986, before mandatory minimums for crack offenses became effective, the average federal drug offense sentence for blacks was 11% higher than for whites. Four years later following the implementation of harsher drug sentencing laws, the average federal drug offense sentence was 49% higher for blacks.
Source: Meierhoefer, B. S., The General Effect of Mandatory Minimum Prison Terms: A Longitudinal Study of Federal Sentences Imposed (Washington DC: Federal Judicial Center, 1992), p. 20.

Regardless of similar or equal levels of illicit drug use during pregnancy, black women are 10 times more likely than white women to be reported to child welfare agencies for prenatal drug use.
Source:Neuspiel, D.R., "Racism and Perinatal Addiction," Ethnicity and Disease, 6: 47-55 (1996); Chasnoff, I.J., Landress, H.J., & Barrett, M.E., "The Prevalence of Illicit-Drug or Alcohol Use during Pregnancy and Discrepancies in Mandatory Reporting in Pinellas County, Florida," New England Journal of Medicine, 322: 1202-1206 (1990).

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