![]() ![]() The controversial legislation known as the 1994 Crime Bill is Biden’s most significant contribution to the expansion of policing the drug war. “ don’t oppose the President’s plan - all we want to do is strengthen it.” He goes on to say that “the President’s plan does not include enough police officers to catch the violent thugs, enough prosecutors to convict them, enough judges to sentence them or enough prison cells to put them away for a long time.” ”Quite frankly, the President’s plan is not tough enough, bold enough, or imaginative enough to meet the crisis at hand,” Biden says. Bush to escalate the Drug War his criticism is that the plan isn’t harsh enough on offenders. CREATE A TIMELIME BARAC OBAMA PRESIDENT CRACKA conviction of possession of powder cocaine with intent to distribute carries a five-year sentence for 500 grams, while the same conviction for crack carries a five-year sentence for only 5 grams, so the harshest penalties are enacted on low-level drug sellers and impoverished drug users.īiden works with the Ronald Reagan administration to craft the next Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, which establishes the Office of National Drug Control Policy, helmed by the “drug czar” director Biden conceived of in 1982.īiden appears on national television to criticize a plan by President George H.W. Two years later, Biden co-sponsors the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which creates new mandatory minimum sentences for drugs, including the notorious 100:1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. The law expands federal drug trafficking penalties and civil asset forfeiture, allowing police to seize a person’s property without proving them guilty of a crime. Strom Thurmond and the Reagan Administration to pass the Comprehensive Control Act. 1984-1986īiden works with far-right Republican Sen. ![]() “We need one person to call the shots,” Biden said. During this time, he helps create the role of a federal “drug czar,” as the New York Times reported in 1982, to coordinate the combined efforts of multiple government agencies including the Departments of Justice and Defense, the F.B.I., the Coast Guard and the Internal Revenue Service. Biden begins to exert his influence over drug policy and mass incarceration as a ranking member (and chair, from 1987-95) of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Department of Justice. So how did Biden go from “Drug War Joe” to “Dank Brandon,” progressive weed hero? 1981ĭelaware Sen. “Don’t Run, Uncle Joe,” Jamelle Bouie urged in a rundown of Biden’s track record for Slate. “Few politicians have done more harm in America’s war on drugs than the former senator from Delaware,” Leafly wrote in 2019, when Biden was still mulling a presidential run. He’s touted his “tough on crime” policies since the 1980s, when he advocated for a massive increase in federal funding for the drug war. President Biden's Weed Pardons Leave Thousands of People BehindĪnd then there’s the fact that Biden was instrumental in building federal policies as an anti-drug crusader who escalated mass incarceration over the nearly four decades he served as a US senator. Oz to tweet, “This is a BFD and a massive step towards justice. And Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman took a break from hammering his opponent Dr. Democratic gubernatorial candidates Beto O’Rourke and Charlie Crist pledged that, if elected, they would follow Biden’s lead and expunge the records of those convicted of marijuana offenses in Texas and Florida, respectively. Nancy Mace of South Carolina wrote, “Applaud the Administration for their necessary big step forward in bringing justice to so many.” Americans for Prosperity, the conservative political advocacy group funded by David and Charles Koch, released a statement praising the Biden administration. The move was met with acclaim from the majority of people (not everyone, though - Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas called it “a desperate attempt to distract from failed leadership”). On Thursday, Biden announced on Twitter that he would pardon all people convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law. Though “Dank Brandon” memes be be proliferating on your timeline, don’t forget that President Biden has supported America’s war on drugs for decades he even wrote many of the laws that helped build a punitive criminal justice system for marijuana offenders. ![]()
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