老澳门开奖结果

There are hundreds of thousands of Americans serving outrageously long prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenses as a result of our nation鈥檚 widely discredited and inhumane "war on drugs." On Tuesday night, President Obama did something he had not yet done as president 鈥� he . While we applaud President Obama鈥檚 decision to allow Eugenia Marie Jennings, a mother of three suffering from cancer who has served 10 years of her 22-year sentence for selling 13.9 grams of crack cocaine, to return to her family 12 years earlier than she otherwise would have, we hope this stands not as a mere isolated gesture of generosity but rather marks the beginning of an enduring, fundamental change in the president鈥檚 systemic approach to drug policy.

We have commended the president for his role in the passage of the Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced the crack to powder cocaine sentencing disparity from 100-to-1 to 18-to-1. But much more reform is still needed. Indeed, many nonviolent drug offenders 鈥� including Ms. Jennings 鈥� do not benefit from the newly reduced disparity. And even those who do benefit still receive a sentence that is disproportionately harsh and that disproportionately affects African-Americans.

Furthermore, while Ms. Jennings likely caught the president鈥檚 attention because of her particularly sympathetic story, strong legal team and a supportive United States senator, there are so many more like Ms. Jennings who don鈥檛 have such powerful advocates and yet are no less deserving of the president鈥檚 mercy. With hundreds of thousands of nonviolent drug offending Americans behind bars, sporadic commutations aren鈥檛 nearly enough to solve the nation鈥檚 current incarceration crisis or prevent us from perpetuating the unjust 鈥渨ar on drugs鈥� in future generations.

As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, we are heartened to see the president exercising his remarkable pardon power for the benefit of nonviolent people 鈥� the casualties of a 40-year 鈥渨ar鈥� during which we鈥檝e torn families apart, and through which we鈥檝e sustained our nation鈥檚 shameful tradition of subordinating poor communities of color. But when we gather around the table next year to give thanks, we hope to be commending the president for moving beyond the all-too-rare commutation to having taken a firm stand to end our failed and racist drug war.

Learn more about drug sentencing: Sign up for breaking news alerts, , and .