• By   • Gary Fields In this Oct. 10, 2006 file photo, a Los
Angeles police officer counts the number of doses of crack
cocaine, as he files an evidence police report after a drug
related arrest in downtown Los Angeles. Associated Press  The
federal panel that makes sentencing recommendations for federal
judges unveiled a plan Thursday that could mean shorter
sentences for thousands of future drug defendants, if the
proposal can make it through the gantlet of law enforcement and
Congress.  The U.S. Sentencing Commission unveiled a
recommendation that would lower by two levels the base offense
levels in drug trafficking cases. The proposed change would mean
drug-trafficking offenders would be looking at a sentence about
11-months shorter than defendants being sentenced now in cases
with the same level of drugs, the panel said.  Thursday’s step
is the first in a long journey that will include two-months of
public comments, a public hearing a commission vote in April.
The non-partisan panel formally sends its re