On Tuesday, President Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act which reduces the disparity in the amounts of powder cocaine and crack cocaine required for the imposition of mandatory minimum sentences and eliminates the mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession of crack cocaine. It also increases monetary penalties for major drug traffickers.
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that “signing the bill into law represented the hard work of Democrats and Republicans coming together and making progress on something that people had identified as a glaring blight on the law.”