But in 1986, no hearings were held on this idea. No experts on the relevant issues, no judges, no one from the Bureau of Prisons, or from any other office in the government, provided advice on the idea before it was rushed through the committee and into law. Only a few comments were received on an informal basis. After bouncing back and forth between the Democratic controlled House and the Republican controlled Senate as each party jockeyed for poitical advantage, The Anti Drug Abuse Act of 1986 finally passed both houses a few weeks before the November elections. Mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes are based on the amount of drugs involved.
Different drugs have different set quantities that trigger a specific minimum sentence.
The idea behind mandatory minimum sentences was to encourage the government to prosecute high level drug offenders. However, the amounts that can trigger a substantial sentence are often lower than those a high level trafficker would be dealing in. For example, a drug offender could receive five years in federal prison for selling as little as five grams of crack cocaine. Five grams might be only 25 doses of crack, depending on purity, worth a few hundred dollars. This is not what high level traffickers are involved in.