Kowani wrote:Biden looks to extend Trump sentencing guidelinesTHE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION is expected to announce support this week for the temporary extension of a Trump-era policy expanding mandatory minimum sentencing to cover a range of fentanyl-related substances. More than 100 civil rights, public health, and criminal justice advocacy groups sent a letter last week urging Congress and President Joe Biden to oppose any extension of the Trump policy.
The administration can’t extend the policy without congressional action, which it is expected to support during a Wednesday hearing on substance use before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, according to two groups on the letter and several Democratic aides. The aides note that the administration will likely request additional time to explore the policy’s ramifications and has not yet decided whether it will adopt a full extension. [...]THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION started classwide scheduling of fentanyl analogues in 2018. The policy put a wide range of substances with a chemical structure similar to fentanyl on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, expanding the application of mandatory minimum sentencing laws to all fentanyl analogues. “But chemical structure alone cannot predict how a drug will affect the human brain,” the letter claims, citing a neurobiologist’s testimony before the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, “and not all fentanyl analogues are harmful.”
The Trump policy, set to expire in May, gives the Drug Enforcement Administration unlimited power to determine the legality of substances while cutting scientists and public health experts out of the conversation. This limits their ability to study certain prohibited drugs, which can prove crucial for developing therapies. Spokespersons from the Justice Department “repeatedly, erroneously, have claimed that failure to enact class-wide scheduling would ‘legalize’ harmful fentanyl analogues,” the letter continues, citing a Washington Post op-ed by former Attorney General Bill Barr with the title, “Fentanyl could flood the country unless Congress passes this bill.” The sale of fentanyl analogues can be prosecuted whether or not they are scheduled, and the policy imposes harsher sentences for possession.
According to a report by the United States Sentencing Commission, prosecution of federal fentanyl offenses increased by close to 4,000 percent between 2015 and 2019, and prosecution of fentanyl analogues increased by well over 5,000 percent since 2016. As the letter points out, those prosecutions involved significant racial disparities, “with people of color comprising almost 75% of those sentenced in fentanyl cases in 2019.” The same was true of sentencing for fentanyl analogues, with people of color comprising 68 percent of people sentenced.
The smart people were the ones that heard Biden apologize for the crime bill and didnt take it automatically as a genuine apology.
It’s called security, you have to keep kids safe without violating our 2nd amendment rights.
