Federal Districts Targeting Low-Level Drug Offenders

While federal prosecutors are supposed to take on cases of national or international significance, many prosecute individuals caught with crack cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine weighing less than 20 grams-- the weight of a toothbrush. In 2015, these districts did not have more drug dealers or more effective criminal justice systems, they had federal prosecutors who were trying to pad their resumes with low-level drug cases in defiance of the Department of Justice's directive to focus on high-level cases.