Published in May 2002, this is the first of a series of reports the United States Sentencing Commission issued on the approach of the 15th anniversary of the effective date of the federal sentencing guidelines. The purpose of this report is to contribute to the ongoing assessment of federal cocaine sentencing policy by Congress and others in the federal criminal justice system. This report updates and supplements much of the research and data presented in the United States Sentencing Commission’s 1995 Special Report to Congress: Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy [hereinafter the 1995 Commission Report] and referred to in the Commission’s 1997 Special Report to Congress: Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy [hereinafter the 1997 Commission Report]. The Commission submits this report pursuant to both its general and statutory authority under 28 U.S.C. §§ 994-995 and its specific responsibility to advise Congress on sentencing policy under 28 U.S.C. § 995(a)(20).