“Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them.”
Cocaine free base (crack) vs cocaine hydrochloride is a good example. The only difference is route of administration, the active molecule is the same. You have a lot of blacks from the projects in jail for smoking crack but very few upper scale whites for snorting crystal coke.
A distinction that was initially pressed by the Congressional Black Caucus -- who wanted to dissuade the 'hood from using crack by instituting a more severe penalty.
Actually, I'd favor evening things up by extending the crack penalty to powder cocaine.