I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1466 

To concentrate Federal resources aimed at the prosecution of drug offenses 

on those offenses that are major. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 12, 2009 

Ms. WATERS (for herself, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of 

Florida, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Ms. 

NORTON, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. CLARKE, Mr. COHEN, Mr. 

HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. PASTOR of Arizona, Mr. STARK, 

Ms. FUDGE, Mr. FATTAH, and Mr. DAVIS of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and 

in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to 

be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

A BILL 

To concentrate Federal resources aimed at the prosecution 

of drug offenses on those offenses that are major. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Major Drug Traf5 ficking Prosecution Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) Since the enactment of mandatory min4 imum sentencing for drug users, the Federal Bureau 

5 of Prisons budget increased from $220 million in 

6 1986 to $5.4 billion in 2008. 

7 (2) Mandatory minimum sentences are statu8 torily prescribed terms of imprisonment that auto9 matically attach upon conviction of certain criminal 

10 conduct, usually pertaining to drug or firearm of11 fenses. Absent very narrow criteria for relief, a sen12 tencing judge is powerless to mandate a term of im13 prisonment below the mandatory minimum. Manda14 tory minimum sentences for drug offenses rely solely 

15 upon the weight of the substance as a proxy for the 

16 degree of involvement of a defendant’s role. 

17 (3) Mandatory minimum sentences have con18 sistently been shown to have a disproportionate im19 pact on African Americans. The United States Sen20 tencing Commission, in a 15-year overview of the 

21 Federal sentencing system, concluded that ‘‘manda22 tory penalty statutes are used inconsistently’’ and 

23 disproportionately affect African American defend24 ants. As a result, African American drug defendants 

25 are 20 percent more likely to be sentenced to prison 

26 than white drug defendants. 


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1 (4) In the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, Con2 gress structured antidrug penalties to encourage the 

3 Department of Justice to concentrate its enforce4 ment effort against high-level and major-level drug 

5 traffickers, and provided new, long mandatory min6 imum sentences for such offenders, correctly recog7 nizing the Federal role in the combined Federal8 State drug enforcement effort. 

9 (5) Between 1994 and 2003, the average time 

10 served by African Americans for a drug offense in11 creased by 62 percent, compared with a 17 percent 

12 increase among white drug defendants. Much of this 

13 disparity is attributable to the severe penalties asso14 ciated with crack cocaine. 

15 (6) African Americans, on average, now serve 

16 almost as much time in Federal prison for a drug 

17 offense (58.7 months) as whites do for a violent of18 fense (61.7 months). 

19 (7) Linking drug quantity with punishment se20 verity has had a particularly profound impact on 

21 women, who are more likely to play peripheral roles 

22 in a drug enterprise than men. However, because 

23 prosecutors can attach drug quantities to an indi24 vidual regardless of the level of culpability of a de25 fendant’s participation in the charged offense, 


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1 women have been exposed to increasingly punitive 

2 sentences to incarceration. 

3 (8) In 2003, the States sentenced more than 

4 340,000 drug offenders to felony convictions, com5 pared to 25,000 Federal felony drug convictions. 

6 (9) Low-level and mid-level drug offenders can 

7 be adequately prosecuted by the States and punished 

8 or supervised in treatment as appropriate. 

9 (10) Federal drug enforcement resources are 

10 not being properly focused, as only 12.8 percent of 

11 powder cocaine prosecutions and 8.4 percent of 

12 crack cocaine prosecutions were brought against 

13 high-level traffickers, according to the Report to 

14 Congress: Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy, 

15 issued May, 2007 by the United States Sentencing 

16 Commission. 

17 (11) According to the Report to Congress, ‘‘The 

18 majority of federal cocaine offenders generally per19 form low-level functions . . .’’. 

20 (12) The Departments of Justice, Treasury, 

21 and Homeland Security are the agencies with the 

22 greatest capacity to investigate, prosecute and dis23 mantle the highest level of drug trafficking organiza24 tions, and investigations and prosecutions of low25 level offenders divert Federal personnel and reVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:23 Mar 14, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1466.IH H1466

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1 sources from the prosecution of the highest-level 

2 traffickers, for which such agencies are best suited. 

3 (13) Congress must have the most current in4 formation on the number of prosecutions of high5 level and low-level drug offenders in order to prop6 erly reauthorize Federal drug enforcement programs. 

7 (14) One consequence of the improper focus of 

8 Federal cocaine prosecutions has been that the over9 whelming majority of low-level offenders subject to 

10 the heightened crack cocaine penalties are black and 

11 according to the Report to Congress only 8.8 percent 

12 of Federal crack cocaine convictions were imposed 

13 on whites, while 81.8 percent and 8.4 percent were 

14 imposed on blacks and Hispanics, respectively 

15 (15) According to the 2002 Report to Congress: 

16 Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy, issued May, 

17 2002 by the United States Sentencing Commission, 

18 there is ‘‘a widely-held perception that the current 

19 penalty structure for federal cocaine offenses pro20 motes unwarranted disparity based on race’’. 

21 (16) African Americans comprise 12 percent of 

22 the US population and 14 percent of drug users, but 

23 30 percent of all Federal drug convictions. 

24 (17) Drug offenders released from prison in 

25 1986 who had been sentenced before the adoption of 


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1 mandatory sentences and sentencing guidelines had 

2 served an average of 22 months in prison. Offenders 

3 sentenced in 2004, after the adoption of mandatory 

4 sentences, were expected to serve almost three times 

5 that length, or 62 months in prison. 

6 (18) According to the Justice Department, the 

7 time spent in prison does not affect recidivism rates. 

8 (19) Government surveys document that drug 

9 use is fairly consistent across racial and ethnic 

10 groups. While there is less data available regarding 

11 drug sellers, research finds that drug users generally 

12 buy drugs from someone of their own racial or eth13 nic background. But almost three-quarters of all 

14 Federal narcotics cases are filed against blacks and 

15 Hispanics, many of whom are low-level offenders. 

16 SEC. 3. APPROVAL OF CERTAIN PROSECUTIONS BY ATTOR17 NEY GENERAL. 

18 A Federal prosecution for an offense under the Con19 trolled Substances Act, the Controlled Substances Import 

20 and Export Act, or for any conspiracy to commit such an 

21 offense, where the offense involves the illegal distribution 

22 or possession of a controlled substance in an amount less 

23 than that amount specified as a minimum for an offense 

24 under section 401(b)(1)(A) of the Controlled Substances 

25 Act (21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1)(A)) or, in the case of any subVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:23 Mar 14, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1466.IH H1466

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1 stance containing cocaine or cocaine base, in an amount 

2 less than 500 grams, shall not be commenced without the 

3 prior written approval of the Attorney General. 

4 SEC. 4. MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN SENTENCING PROVI5 SIONS. 

6 (a) SECTION 404.—Section 404(a) of the Controlled 

7 Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 844(a)) is amended— 

8 (1) by striking ‘‘not less than 15 days but’’; 

9 (2) by striking ‘‘not less than 90 days but’’; 

10 (3) by striking ‘‘not less than 5 years and’’; and 

11 (4) by striking the sentence beginning ‘‘The im12 position or execution of a minimum sentence’’. 

13 (b) SECTION 401.—Section 401(b) of the Controlled 

14 Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 841(b)) is amended— 

15 (1) in paragraph (1)(A)— 

16 (A) by striking ‘‘which may not be less 

17 than 10 years and or more than’’ and inserting 

18 ‘‘for any term of years or for’’; 

19 (B) by striking ‘‘and if death’’ the first 

20 place it appears and all that follows through 

21 ‘‘20 years or more than life’’ the first place it 

22 appears; 

23 (C) by striking ‘‘which may not be less 

24 than 20 years and not more than life imprisonVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:23 Mar 14, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1466.IH H1466

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1 ment’’ and inserting ‘‘for any term of years or 

2 for life’’; 

3 (D) by inserting ‘‘imprisonment for any 

4 term of years or’’ after ‘‘if death or serious bod5 ily injury results from the use of such substance 

6 shall be sentenced to’’; 

7 (E) by striking the sentence beginning ‘‘If 

8 any person commits a violation of this subpara9 graph’’; 

10 (F) by striking the sentence beginning 

11 ‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law’’ 

12 and the sentence beginning ‘‘No person sen13 tenced’’; and 

14 (2) in paragraph (1)(B)— 

15 (A) by striking ‘‘which may not be less 

16 than 5 years and’’ and inserting ‘‘for’’; 

17 (B) by striking ‘‘not less than 20 years or 

18 more than’’ and inserting ‘‘for any term of 

19 years or to’’; 

20 (C) by striking ‘‘which may not be less 

21 than 10 years and more than’’ and inserting 

22 ‘‘for any term of years or for’’; 

23 (D) by inserting ‘‘imprisonment for any 

24 term of years or to’’ after ‘‘if death or serious 


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1 bodily injury results from the use of such sub2 stance shall be sentenced to’’; 

3 (E) by striking the sentence beginning 

4 ‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law’’. 

5 (c) SECTION 1010.—Section 1010(b) of the Con6 trolled Substances Import and Export Act (21 U.S.C. 

7 960(b)) is amended— 

8 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

9 (A) by striking ‘‘of not less than 10 years 

10 and not more than’’ and inserting ‘‘for any 

11 term of years or for’’; 

12 (B) by striking ‘‘and if death’’ the first 

13 place it appears and all that follows through 

14 ‘‘20 years and not more than life’’ the first 

15 place it appears; 

16 (C) by striking ‘‘of not less than 20 years 

17 and not more than life imprisonment’’ and in18 serting ‘‘for any term of years or for life’’; 

19 (D) by inserting ‘‘imprisonment for any 

20 term of years or to’’ after ‘‘if death or serious 

21 bodily injury results from the use of such sub22 stance shall be sentenced to’’; 

23 (E) by striking the sentence beginning 

24 ‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law’’; 

25 and 


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1 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

2 (A) by striking ‘‘not less than 5 years 

3 and’’; 

4 (B) by striking ‘‘of not less than twenty 

5 years and not more than’’ and inserting ‘‘for 

6 any term of years or for’’; 

7 (C) by striking ‘‘of not less than 10 years 

8 and not more than’’ and inserting ‘‘for any 

9 term of years or to’’; 

10 (D) by inserting ‘‘imprisonment for any 

11 term of years or to’’ after ‘‘if death or serious 

12 bodily injury results from the use of such sub13 stance shall be sentenced to’’; 

14 (E) by striking the sentence beginning 

15 ‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law’’. 

16 (d) SECTION 418.—Section 418 of the Controlled 

17 Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 859) is amended by striking 

18 the sentence beginning ‘‘Except to the extent’’ each place 

19 it appears and by striking the sentence beginning ‘‘The 

20 mandatory minimum’’. 

21 (e) SECTION 419.—Section 419 of the Controlled 

22 Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 860) is amended by striking 

23 the sentence beginning ‘‘Except to the extent’’ each place 

24 it appears and by striking the sentence beginning ‘‘The 

25 mandatory minimum’’. 


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1 (f) SECTION 420.—Section 420 of the Controlled 

2 Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 861) is amended— 

3 (1) in each of subsections (b) and (c), by strik4 ing the sentence beginning ‘‘Except to the extent’’; 

5 (2) by striking subsection (e); and 

6 (3) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘, (c), and (e)’’ 

7 and inserting ‘‘and (c)’’. 

Æ 


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