The long-lasting controversial issue regarding prison sentencing is drug abuse. Should someone get locked up for 10 years for a drug related crime, which can sometimes be more extreme than a convicted murderer? While drug abuse is a huge problem in the world today, is incarceration the right step to take regarding the future?When drug addiction is concerned, if possession or other non-violent crimes are committed, rehab (in my opinion) seems more plausible than imprisonment. However, the problem is that drugs are often the root cause of other crimes. And prison helps perpetuate crime. It’s a catch-22 but still…prison is PROVEN to raise the bar when it comes to criminal activity. Rehabalitation, on the other hand, doesn’t have an incredibly high success rate but it is a safer bet than locking someone up in a corrupt world and throwing away the key indefinitely.

In the last six months, federal district courts have received 13, 170 motions for reductions in sentences by offenders convicted of a crack cocaine offense, and have granted relief in 9,703 stated the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

According to the National Law Journal, “The retroactive application of a crack cocaine amendment to the Federal Sentencing guidelines lowered base offense levels in an effort to address the 100-to-1 ratio, and racial disparity in the sentencing of those convicted of crack offenses and those convicted of cocaine powder offenses.”

What does this mean? It is the push for more leniency. However, shorter sentences and no rehab equal a disaster. Along with the shorter sentences to balance things out racially, a better program to assist drug addicts in prison as well as once they are released into the outside world is crucial in keeping our streets as safe as possible.

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