The Delaware House of Representatives voted 26-13 this week to repeal the state's mandatory minimum drug laws, but the measure faces a tougher future in the state Senate, the Wilmington News-Journal reported April 4.

The measure, House Bill 71, has received support from Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, who said that the repeal could help ease prison overcrowding. However, Senate President Pro Tem Thurman Adams Jr. said he doesn't like the bill and considers its prospects "a toss-up" in the Senate.

The bill would return sentencing discretion to judges. But law-enforcement officials -- including Dover Police Chief Jeffrey Horvath, who toted a bag of crack cocaine into court to make his point -- said repealing mandatory minimum sentences would make their job harder by taking away important leverage over suspects.

Backing the repeal effort is Stand Up for What's Right and Just, a local group headed by Louis Freeh, former head of the FBI. Former Delaware Supreme Court Justice Joseph Walsh also supported the bill, saying it would restore balance to the justice system. "I know every judge in this state, and I do not know one soft-on-sentencing judge," he said.