In a report to Congress on federal cocaine sentencing policy, the U.S. Sentencing Commission urged lawmakers to reduce mandatory minimum sentences for crack cocaine offenses, the Associated Press reported on May 15. 

The commission urged Congress to increase the threshold quantities for crack cocaine that trigger the mandatory minimum sentence of five years. That threshold is currently five grams, much lower than the threshold for powder cocaine. According to the commission, it takes a hundred times more powder cocaine to result in the same prison sentence that exists for crack cocaine. These sentences were imposed by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, enacted in the 1980s amid the crack cocaine epidemic.

The commission concluded in its 115-page report that federal cocaine sentencing policy is under "almost universal criticism" from judicial, academic, criminal justice and public interest groups. 

In April, the commission voted to promulgate an amendment to modify the sentencing range for crack cocaine offenses. However, the minimum five-year penalty would still stand for five-gram offenses, with the maximum guideline range dropping from 78 months to 63 months.

The commission's amendment will become effective November 1, unless Congress votes against it by that date.