Though America has made strides against discrimination, troubling pockets of race-based bias persist. Case in point: Two recent national reports documented drug enforcement practices that unfairly arrest and imprison African-Americans at much higher rates than whites.

Reports by the Sentencing Project and Human Rights Watch use federal data to document effects of the nation's 30-year war on drugs. Both conclude that the policies have had a devastating impact on lower-income, inner-city blacks. While the number of drug arrests rose 1,100 percent since 1980, disproportionate numbers of blacks were arrested and jailed for possession -- even though both races use illegal drugs at the same rates.

Those findings are consistent with research done on the Twin Cities and Minnesota by groups such as the Twin Cities-based Council on Crime and Justice. Combined, the studies support the need to rethink approaches to drug abuse and minor drug offenses.

According to the Human Rights report, African-American men are nearly 12 times as likely to be imprisoned for drug convictions as whites. Between 1980 and 2003, in large cities, drug arrest rates for blacks rose at three times the rate for whites. The widest gap is in Wisconsin; 42 blacks are imprisoned for drugs for every one white. Minnesota ranks 11th with a 10-1 ratio.

This drug strategy has had consequences. The steady climb of arrests and jail time has not resulted in fewer drugs, only more prison beds. Black communities suffer when arrest and jail records lock men out of jobs. Unequal treatment also contributes to mistrust and suspicion of the criminal justice system within communities of color. And the time that police and prosecutors devote to lower-level drug cases can take attention away from more violent crimes.

Steps to reduce the disparities are underway. Minnesota is among a number of states that have begun using drug courts and expanded treatment options. In 1991, then-Hennepin County District Court Judge Pam Alexander eliminated sentencing differences between powder and crack cocaine because they were racially biased. Last December, the U.S. Sentencing Commission finally followed her wise lead.

On another discrimination note, last week the American Medical Association issued a formal apology for years of bias against black doctors -- including barring them from the association for decades. The AMA also apologized for failing to support anti-discriminatory legislation. And national and local studies continue to reveal racial bias in areas such as housing, banking and health care.

Despite advances, this nation clearly has a long way to go to achieve racially equal treatment. On drug enforcement, more resources should be shifted into treatment and other alternatives for low-risk offenders. The system must adopt policies that fight crime and promote social and racial justice.