Opinion ID: 679513
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(b)(1)(A)

Text: 62 Williams' equal protection challenge to section 841(b)(1)(A) is precluded by the law of this circuit. See United States v. Williams, 978 F.2d 1133, 1136 (9th Cir.1992), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 1606, 123 L.Ed.2d 168 (1993); Harding, 971 F.2d at 412-14. Williams argues that this statute, which punishes offenses involving 50 grams or more of cocaine base to the same extent as offenses involving 5 kilograms or more of cocaine, violates equal protection, but in Harding we rejected a nearly identical equal protection challenge. We stated that [s]ection 841(b)(1) implicates neither a suspect class nor a fundamental right. The statute permissibly differentiates on the basis of type of the drug and quantity, providing higher penalties for offenses involving cocaine base than for offenses involving similar amounts of powder cocaine. Harding, 971 F.2d at 412 (citation omitted). After determining that an equal protection challenge to the statute was subject only to rational basis scrutiny, we further stated that 63 Congress's decision to punish the sale of crack more severely than the sale of powder cocaine was based on a broad and legitimate basis. Although crack and powder cocaine are different forms of the same drug, the routes of administration, their physiological and psychological effects, and the manner in which they are sold set the two forms of the drug apart.... [C]rack offers an easy, relatively inexpensive, and potent means for first time users as well as addicts to experience a temporary high which leaves them craving more. While powder cocaine was the drug of choice for the affluent, crack has brought cocaine to the streets, catering to the habits of both rich and poor in epidemic proportions.... [T]he penalties embodied in [section 841(b)(1)(A) ] further the legitimate government interest of eliminating controlled substance distribution and abuse.... If the extent of the problem posed by the sale of crack and the need for more severe penalties than for powder cocaine are not clearly evident, these issues are at least highly debatable. This is enough to prevent invalidation of the statutory classification. 64 Id. at 413-14 (citations and footnotes omitted). 65 In addition to Harding, we have held in other cases that section 841(b)(1)(A) is constitutional. See Williams, 978 F.2d at 1136; Shaw, 936 F.2d at 416; Van Hawkins, 899 F.2d at 854; United States v. Malone, 886 F.2d 1162, 1166 (9th Cir.1989); United States v. Savinovich, 845 F.2d 834, 839 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 943, 109 S.Ct. 369, 102 L.Ed.2d 358 (1988). And, as we noted in Harding, every circuit having addressed a claim similar to Williams' has rejected it. See United States v. Lawrence, 951 F.2d 751, 755 (7th Cir.1991); United States v. House, 939 F.2d 659, 664 (8th Cir.1991); United States v. Avant, 907 F.2d 623, 627 (6th Cir.1990); United States v. Thomas, 900 F.2d 37, 39-40 (4th Cir.1990); United States v. Cyrus, 890 F.2d 1245, 1248-49 (D.C.Cir.1989); United States v. Solomon, 848 F.2d 156, 157 (11th Cir.1988). Thus, Williams' argument that section 841(b)(1)(A) is unconstitutional is completely foreclosed by precedent.