With the passage of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 today by the House of Representatives, it is now headed to President Obama’s desk for certain signature within the next 10 days.

The Fair Sentencing Act will:

• Replace the 100-to-1 ratio with an 18-to-1 ratio;
• Raise the threshold for mandatory minimum sentences (28 grams would trigger a 5-year mandatory minimum and 280 grams would trigger a ten-year mandatory minimum); and
• Eliminate altogether the 5 year mandatory minimum for simple possession of crack cocaine.

Although the bill is not retroactive (applied to those sentenced before its passage), this issue is likely to be addressed by the courts and / or Congress in light of the volume of cases that are potentially affected by it.