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 fol-
lowing 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 consider-
ation 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Major Drug Traf-
ficking Prosecution Act of 2009’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Since the enactment of mandatory min-
imum sentencing for drug users, the Federal Bureau 
of Prisons budget increased from $220 million in 
1986 to $5.4 billion in 2008. 
(2) Mandatory minimum sentences are statu-
torily prescribed terms of imprisonment that auto-
matically attach upon conviction of certain criminal 
conduct, usually pertaining to drug or firearm of-
fenses. Absent very narrow criteria for relief, a sen-
tencing judge is powerless to mandate a term of im-
prisonment below the mandatory minimum. Manda-
tory minimum sentences for drug offenses rely solely 
upon the weight of the substance as a proxy for the 
degree of involvement of a defendant’s role. 
(3) Mandatory minimum sentences have con-
sistently been shown to have a disproportionate im-
pact on African Americans. The United States Sen-
tencing Commission, in a 15-year overview of the 
Federal sentencing system, concluded that ‘‘manda-
tory penalty statutes are used inconsistently’’ and 
disproportionately affect African American defend-
ants. As a result, African American drug defendants 
are 20 percent more likely to be sentenced to prison 
than white drug defendants. 
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(4) In the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, Con-
gress structured antidrug penalties to encourage the 
Department of Justice to concentrate its enforce-
ment effort against high-level and major-level drug 
traffickers, and provided new, long mandatory min-
imum sentences for such offenders, correctly recog-
nizing the Federal role in the combined Federal- 
State drug enforcement effort. 
(5) Between 1994 and 2003, the average time 
served by African Americans for a drug offense in-
creased by 62 percent, compared with a 17 percent 
increase among white drug defendants. Much of this 
disparity is attributable to the severe penalties asso-
ciated with crack cocaine. 
(6) African Americans, on average, now serve 
almost as much time in Federal prison for a drug 
offense (58.7 months) as whites do for a violent of-
fense (61.7 months). 
(7) Linking drug quantity with punishment se-
verity has had a particularly profound impact on 
women, who are more likely to play peripheral roles 
in a drug enterprise than men. However, because 
prosecutors can attach drug quantities to an indi-
vidual regardless of the level of culpability of a de-
fendant’s participation in the charged offense, 
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women have been exposed to increasingly punitive 
sentences to incarceration. 
(8) In 2003, the States sentenced more than 
340,000 drug offenders to felony convictions, com-
pared to 25,000 Federal felony drug convictions. 
(9) Low-level and mid-level drug offenders can 
be adequately prosecuted by the States and punished 
or supervised in treatment as appropriate. 
(10) Federal drug enforcement resources are 
not being properly focused, as only 12.8 percent of 
powder cocaine prosecutions and 8.4 percent of 
crack cocaine prosecutions were brought against 
high-level traffickers, according to the Report to 
Congress: Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy, 
issued May, 2007 by the United States Sentencing 
Commission. 
(11) According to the Report to Congress, ‘‘The 
majority of federal cocaine offenders generally per-
form low-level functions . . .’’. 
(12) The Departments of Justice, Treasury, 
and Homeland Security are the agencies with the 
greatest capacity to investigate, prosecute and dis-
mantle the highest level of drug trafficking organiza-
tions, and investigations and prosecutions of low- 
level offenders divert Federal personnel and re-
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sources from the prosecution of the highest-level 
traffickers, for which such agencies are best suited. 
(13) Congress must have the most current in-
formation on the number of prosecutions of high- 
level and low-level drug offenders in order to prop-
erly reauthorize Federal drug enforcement programs. 
(14) One consequence of the improper focus of 
Federal cocaine prosecutions has been that the over-
whelming majority of low-level offenders subject to 
the heightened crack cocaine penalties are black and 
according to the Report to Congress only 8.8 percent 
of Federal crack cocaine convictions were imposed 
on whites, while 81.8 percent and 8.4 percent were 
imposed on blacks and Hispanics, respectively 
(15) According to the 2002 Report to Congress: 
Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy, issued May, 
2002 by the United States Sentencing Commission, 
there is ‘‘a widely-held perception that the current 
penalty structure for federal cocaine offenses pro-
motes unwarranted disparity based on race’’. 
(16) African Americans comprise 12 percent of 
the US population and 14 percent of drug users, but 
30 percent of all Federal drug convictions. 
(17) Drug offenders released from prison in 
1986 who had been sentenced before the adoption of 
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mandatory sentences and sentencing guidelines had 
served an average of 22 months in prison. Offenders 
sentenced in 2004, after the adoption of mandatory 
sentences, were expected to serve almost three times 
that length, or 62 months in prison. 
(18) According to the Justice Department, the 
time spent in prison does not affect recidivism rates. 
(19) Government surveys document that drug 
use is fairly consistent across racial and ethnic 
groups. While there is less data available regarding 
drug sellers, research finds that drug users generally 
buy drugs from someone of their own racial or eth-
nic background. But almost three-quarters of all 
Federal narcotics cases are filed against blacks and 
Hispanics, many of whom are low-level offenders. 
SEC. 3. APPROVAL OF CERTAIN PROSECUTIONS BY ATTOR-
NEY GENERAL. 
A Federal prosecution for an offense under the Con-
trolled Substances Act, the Controlled Substances Import 
and Export Act, or for any conspiracy to commit such an 
offense, where the offense involves the illegal distribution 
or possession of a controlled substance in an amount less 
than that amount specified as a minimum for an offense 
under section 401(b)(1)(A) of the Controlled Substances 
Act (21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1)(A)) or, in the case of any sub-
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stance containing cocaine or cocaine base, in an amount 
less than 500 grams, shall not be commenced without the 
prior written approval of the Attorney General. 
SEC. 4. MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN SENTENCING PROVI-
SIONS. 
(a) SECTION 404.—Section 404(a) of the Controlled 
Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 844(a)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘not less than 15 days but’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘not less than 90 days but’’; 
(3) by striking ‘‘not less than 5 years and’’; and 
(4) by striking the sentence beginning ‘‘The im-
position or execution of a minimum sentence’’. 
(b) SECTION 401.—Section 401(b) of the Controlled 
Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 841(b)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1)(A)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘which may not be less 
than 10 years and or more than’’ and inserting 
‘‘for any term of years or for’’; 
(B) by striking ‘‘and if death’’ the first 
place it appears and all that follows through 
‘‘20 years or more than life’’ the first place it 
appears; 
(C) by striking ‘‘which may not be less 
than 20 years and not more than life imprison-
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