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Sentences that were there for first-time, non-violent drug offenses. >> at the core of your argument here is that these minimum mandatory federal sentences have not doing what they intended to do. >> no. you know what? when i came into the system, i didn't realize -- it's a nickel. hold it. feel the weight of it? feel it? >> yeah. >> i had no idea that for 5 grams of cocaine, which is what that nickel weighs, 5 grams, you could be sentenced to 10 years in prison. i was with men sentenced to 10 years in prison for 5 grams of cocaine. that's insane. that's insane. >> so what do we do? do you wan...

Mandatory federal sentences are not doing what they intended to do. >> no. you know what? when i came into the system, i didn't realize -- it's a nickel. hold it. feel the weight of it? feel it? >> yeah. >> i had no idea that for 5 grams of cocaine, which is what that nickel weighs, 5 grams, you could be sentenced to 10 years in prison. i was with men sentenced to 10 years in prison for 5 grams of cocaine. that's insane. that's insane. >> so what do we do? do you want to throw out the minimum mandatories? >> i think the minimum mandatories have to be addressed. i think we have to have real lif...

Disoriented. joining me is allison samuels from the daily beast and newsweek and alicia corals. good morning to you. allison, i'll begin with you. you were at the hotel what houston died. what do you know about her final moments? >> not a lot is known about her final moments except that she was about to do an interview with vh 1. i was in the room where they were filming behind the music. whitney was supposed to come directly to do behind the music on brandy. they were already set up for her. they were waiting on her. her assistant had come down probably an hour before to say okay, she's comin...

To get through the shock? >> my understanding is there wasn't really enough time. people were already arriving, people were already there. there wasn't enough time for them to actually stop it. as puffy said last night, this is a party. whitney would have loved this. that's who she was. she enjoyed having a good time and laughing and being with people. so in many ways it was a fitting tribute for that to continue, for the party to go on. >> alicia, what do you think whitney houston's lasting legacy will be? >> i think err lasting legacy will be her voice. we covered that party, if you want to ...

>> with gymnastics or figure skating or the like. do you get to intersect much? >> maybe that's the key. >> happy mess. >> maybe that's the key to success. no. she's been working at nbc sports for a long time now. she loves doing figure skating and loves doing gymnastics and is -- there's a big, what is it, four continents, there's a huge figure skating event going on this weekend. >> thank you for being with us in office politics. >> pleasure. pleasure. thank you for allowing me to clean up before you got here. >> not. >> not so much. kind of messy office, but we still love him. you can watch...