President Richard Nixon first declared a war on drugs in 1971, funneling more federal money into agencies intended to combat drug use. Then, in the 1980s, several pieces of legislation created mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses.
All of these factors lead us to where we are now. But where is that exactly?
Kevin Krause, who covers federal courts for The Dallas Morning News, combed through 10 years of meth sentencing information for North Texas 鈥� and what he found paints a stark picture.
As part of a for the Morning News, Krause said he found than sentences for violent crimes or other drug crimes, including more deadly drugs like fentanyl.
鈥淭here was concern about meth from Congress during the 1990s that it was really dangerous. And even when the laws surrounding crack were reformed in 2010, nothing was done for methamphetamine,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淎nd so it is now the most severely punished drug in the federal system.
鈥淚鈥檝e found cases of nonviolent first-time offenders being given more than 20 years, in some cases life in prison, and there is no parole in the federal system. So they do about 85% of their sentences.鈥�
Meth sentencing also impacts a large number of people because the drug is relatively readily available.
鈥淚t鈥檚 cheap, and there are a lot of cases being filed,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淏y far the drug caseload is dominated by methamphetamine cases. And it鈥檚 a combination of aggressive prosecutors and judges who follow the sentencing guidelines.鈥�
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The details of meth sentencing are also outdated in a way that leads to more prison time, Krause said.
鈥淭he purity is what鈥檚 driving these high sentences,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n the 1980s, meth was primarily made in the U.S., small little ramshackle operations. Sometimes they would explode, and it wasn鈥檛 very pure. And so the feds [made] the policy that if it鈥檚 highly pure, that means that it must be coming from the very top, the leadership.
鈥淎nd so that鈥檚 why they decided to punish it so much harder for high purity. But now all the meth is highly pure from Mexico.鈥�
Krause also found that North Texas in particular has some of the harshest sentencing for meth crimes in the country.
鈥淢ost judges understand that there鈥檚 really no meaning, that this distinction [in purity) is not meaningful anymore. And so they sentence below the federal guideline range,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淏ut here in North Texas, the judges mostly adhere pretty strictly to those guidelines, even though legal scholars and defense attorneys say they鈥檙e outdated.鈥�
The second part of Krause鈥檚 series . The third part will come out on Friday.
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