Maxine Waters

Laws that impose mandatory minimum sentences for drug sales and possession are unfair to minorities, Maxine Waters argues in the following viewpoint. According to Waters, these laws are particularly biased because they impose longer sentences on possession of crack cocaine, which is cheaper and more common in poor communities, than on possession of powder cocaine, whose users are more likely to be white. Waters also asserts that African Americans are disproportionately arrested and sentenced for drug use and possession. She states that instead of mandatory minimum sentences, the drug problem should be addressed by developing programs that will help young people. Waters is a Democratic congresswoman from California.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Waters, how many grams of powder cocaine would a person have to possess to receive the same sentence...