Joe Biden's Awful Record on Drug Policy

[High Plains]

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle_blog/2008/aug/24/joe_bidens_awful_record_on_drug_

Joe Biden's Awful Record on Drug Policy

Posted in Chronicle Blog by Scott Morgan on Sun, 08/24/2008 - 9:08pm

Among the likely choices for Obama's running mate, Joe Biden was not the person reformers were hoping to see on the democratic ticket. Radley Balko sums up Biden's drug war credentials:


…from a policy perspective, it’s a disaster. Biden has sponsored more damaging drug war legislation than any Democrat in Congress. Hate the way federal prosecutors use RICO laws to take aim at drug offenders? Thank Biden. How about the abomination that is federal asset forfeiture laws? Thank Biden. Think federal prosecutors have too much power in drug cases? Thank Biden. Think the title of a “Drug Czar” is sanctimonious and silly? Thank Biden, who helped create the position (and still considers it an accomplishment worth boasting about). Tired of the ridiculous steroids hearings in Congress? thank Biden, who led the effort to make steroids a Schedule 3 drug, and has been among the blowhardiest of the blowhards when it comes to sports and performance enhancing drugs. Biden voted in favor of using international development aid for drug control (think plan Columbia, plan Afghanistan, and other meddling anti-drug efforts that have only fostered loathing of America, backlash, and unintended consequences). Oh, and he was also the chief sponsor of 2004’s horrendous RAVE Act.

On the other hand, Biden has recently spoken out against the crack/powder sentencing disparity and introduced legislation to address that issue. Pete Guither also notes that Biden's votes on civil liberties issues have consistently improved over the years, which may be a sign that he's evolving in his thinking. But I see no evidence that Biden has ever stepped back in any meaningful sense from his rabid drug warring ways. If he's made any philosophical realignments on drug policy in general, he hasn't said so out loud.

Thus the silver-lining may be that as Vice President, Biden would no longer be serving on the judiciary committee, where he's exerted his influence in the form of the various atrocities outlined above. As VP he'd technically be losing his authority over drug policy issues, except to whatever extent Obama may seek his advice when selecting the drug czar and so forth. It's certainly possible that Obama's more enlightened views would prevail within his administration, or even that Biden's "tough on crime" credentials could provide cover for reform, but Biden would be a strange ingredient in the behind-the-scenes reform agenda that's so often attributed to Obama by liberal reformers. It was bad enough when Obama softened his reform positions to avoid attacks from the right. Will he now begin watching his step around his own running mate?

(This blog post was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)

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[High Plains]

1. There are embedded links in this post that didn't show up.

Go to the link above to see the other links, if you're interested.

[Fumesucker]

2. Somehow I have this funny feeling...

That the "we need to end the drug war" posts around here are going to be greatly curtailed now that Obama has picked the preeminent drug warrior on the Dem side of the aisle as his running mate.

[gaspee]

4. Or, more likely

People who have been consistent opponents of the asinine war on drugs, here on DU over the years will be brow-beaten as republicans and or trolls, or worst of all - those dastardly pumas - for stating their problems with Biden.

Hell, all I've complained about is his leadership on the bankruptcy "reform" travesty of justice and I've been attacked over and over again. I have a history of fighting against, and complaining about that farce before it even became law, yet I've been told I'm a republican for daring to say it's a vote I can't forgive.

I'm kind of interested if criticism of Biden for his stupid ass drug warrior bullshit will be tolerated.

I firmly believe this farce of a "war on drugs" has done more to hurt the African American and Hispanic (poor whites are held to a different standard -- rich whites are held to no standard - just look at Limbaugh and Cindy McCain. No jail time for them!) communities of the past two generations than any other policy our country has.

I think his finally addressing the sentencing disparity is way too little too late.

[TornadoTN]

7. You're not alone

Let me preface by saying that I support Obama 100% and I'll trust his judgment on the VP selection. We certainly could have had a lot worse.

But Biden's record with the Bankruptcy bill and the "Drug War" could be huge liabilities in the fall. Plus, there are some major baggage issues when it comes to Biden's brother and son and their hedge fund mess. Plus, lets not leave out that they have their lobbying firm which certainly raises some eyebrows about the "change" message and the "outsider" persona that Obama is trying to push in his campaign.

While Biden certainly delivers positives in other areas, I believe there were much better and more strategic options available. I hope Biden helps the ticket but I see too many talking points that the GOP can throw out that the media and the masses will latch onto.

[Fumesucker]

21. Why do you think I said that calls to end the drug war might slow down?

Because of the attacks that are sure to follow any criticism of the anointed ones.

[Warpy]

3. He's certainly got a mixed record and is a lot more conservative

than most of us here on DU would have wanted had we been the ones to choose Obama's running mate.

However, he's the running mate we have, he's a fighter, and he's great on labor issues.

All the negatives being brought up about Biden on this board are reasons GOPs who have been disgusted by their own party's excesses might be tempted to vote for the ticket. I won't bet the rent that many of them will, but it's certainly making them think about it.

Given Obama's own record on many issues, Biden is probably the best we could possibly have expected. He's certainly far from the worst.

[Alter Ego]

5. Biden is not Cheney.

He won't be running the country and pulling the strings, unless the unthinkable happens.

[1corona4u]

6. I suppose this would be an issue...

for people who can't get through their daily lives without some form of drug....not of a concern for me personally.

[PeaceNikki]

8. To be clear, the "War on Drugs" afftects everyone.

Not just the "users".

[1corona4u]

9. And it affects me how?

[PeaceNikki]

13. Prison over-population, puts the sale of drugs into hands of criminals

which causes escalation in violent crimes, the billions of dollars spent fighting this crime that could be used for healthcare or to fight poverty, etc...

There are a lot of ways it affects you.

[demobabe]

14. Well...

Your tax money is going to pay for people to be in jail who should be rehabbed instead and the tax money going to pay for schools or other things... and the system is being used as a way to generate money for courts and insurance companies instead of actually rehabbing folks.

You personally may not be affected by this, but there are a LOT of people who have chronic conditions (pain, allergies) who have trouble getting the medicines they need because of drug laws.

[Breeze54]

11. It should be a concern... private prisons holding pot smokers for years

is ridiculous and expensive! Non-violent drug abusers shouldn't be locked up, imho.
They should be in treatment programs instead! You don't care that bush and the GOP's
buddies are profiting from all these convictions with all their private prisons??

I'm sure the prison lobbyists love you. :eyes:

[High Plains]

12. What an asinine post. Not a concern for you personally, you say?

Wanna pee in a cup to keep your job?

Wanna pay more taxes for more prisons for non-violent drug offenders?

Wanna get detained on the side of the highway for an hour or so waiting for the drug dogs to (non) search your car?

Wanna empower gangs of criminals getting rich on black market drug money?

Wanna see even more SWAT raids on non-violent drug offenders?

Wanna see what's left of the Fourth Amendment go up in smoke?

I could go on. To paraphrase Trotsky, you may not be interested in the drug war, but the drug war is interested in you.

Okay, put your head back in the sand now.

[High Plains]

15. If you care about racial justice, you should care about the drug war.

The drug laws may be racially neutral as written, but not as applied.

Blacks make up about 13% of the population, 13% of drug users, but 55% of those imprisoned for drug offenses. Funny how that works.

If you support the racist drug war, what does that make you?

[1corona4u]

16. I never said I supported the drug war....

I said it had no affect on me. I stand by that statement. I pay taxes for a lot of things I don't agree with. We all do. But this is very low on my list of things to worry about.

Look, you all can sit here all day looking for things to worry about. I'm just not going to do it. There are far more important things to worry about at this point in our history.

[Fumesucker]

20. So, "the land of the free" having the highest incarceration rate on the planet

Doesn't concern you?

The high incarceration rate got its start in 1972, the year Tricky Dicky inaugurated the DEA, up until that point America had a similar rate to the rest of the industrialized world.

It doesn't effect (not affect) you that your country is the premier police state in the world?

[PeaceNikki]

30. I was just quoting these studies yesterday. It's shocking. And my city/state tops the list

for racial disparity in arrests and sentencing.

I was called a "bigot" and "cop-hater" for it.

This place freaks me out sometimes.

[Greyhound]

26. Short-sighted and uncritical, there's a good Amerikan.

Have you considered all the infringements and outrages you tolerate today because of this atrocity?

[Bluenorthwest]

38. So, in all fairness, I must assume...

that your screen name is not in fact a reference to the alcholic beverage known as Corona? I mean, if your name is ' one drug for you', and you don't understand that then cool.
One crown for me? What means this?

[Vincardog]

41. Thank god you never have coffee or cola or aspirin or a beer or a shot

Self satisfies sanctimonious shits piss me off

[Bluenorthwest]

42. That posters name...

Is about drinking. A corona is a brand of beer. The name is 'one beer for you' or 'one drug for you' so yeah, sanctimounious only begins to describe this display.

[Vincardog]

43. I heard that

[moodforaday]

47. "Then they came for me

...and there was no one left
to speak out for me."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...">Pastor Martin Niemöller

Classic case. But go on, look no further than the tip of your nose. And hope your kids, if you have or will have any, are never going to so much as sniff at a joint.

[notadmblnd]

10. think of it like this.. He's out of congress and won't be legislating

this stuff anymore.

[NNN0LHI]

17. 2007 American Civil Liberties Union gave Senator Biden a grade of 75. McCain got a 50

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3846630

[Freddie Stubbs]

18. RICO laws? Have any drug users been prosecuted under this, or is it just drug dealers?

:shrug:

[Greyhound]

29. Every day, all over the country. People's cars and homes seized because

old prescription meds were found not in their bottles? Even when the legitimacy of the possession is shown and they are not prosecuted the property is still gone and it (the property) is charged under some of the most bizarre legal chicanery we've come up with, because the LEAs "need it".

It takes years and thousands of dollars to get back your own stuff.

[Freddie Stubbs]

31. How many of those people were charged with RICO violations?

:shrug:

[Fumesucker]

35. You don't have to be charged with anything at all to have your property confiscated..

Happens every damn day..

[Freddie Stubbs]

36. The OP was whining about federal prosecutors using the RICO law to prosecute drug users

I am quite skeptical that this is happening other than case involving drug dealers.

Can anyone provide some evidence of RICO laws being used to prosecute drug users rather than drug dealers?

[Fumesucker]

39. There is a remarkably fine line between "user" and "dealer"

Technically, passing a joint along at a concert makes you a "dealer".

No money needs change hands at all.

Given that I have two "drug dealers" in my family (one of whom has been in the biz for about thirty years now), I know that the hype about how evil "drug dealers" are is mostly just that, hype. The great majority of Americans get their information from "nooz" or hollywood, neither of which portrays anything remotely resembling real life.

How about responding to my point that you don't have to be charged with anything at all to have your property confiscated?

Or do you not care about that?

[Greyhound]

37. All of the property seizures are done under RICO, that is the mechanism

that makes it "legal". Now in many, if not most, cases the actual people are not charged, but the property is. There are literally thousands of articles and document covering these seizures.

[wuushew]

19. What is more serious is that the pandering is very effective.....

Ask yourself what explains Biden's embracing limits on civil liberty? His constituency is NOT right-wing authoritarian types nor religious moralizers. The only conclusion I have arrived at is that having children kills some part of the libertarian brain in humans.

Moving mountains for your child just crushes someone else's foot.

[Fumesucker]

22. Not all humans..

I have kids and grandkids.

Frankly I'd rather see them smoking crack than in prison in the USA.

I have a family member doing hard time right now for a non violent "drug crime" and the conditions they are under are horrific.

This is very personal to me.

[wuushew]

23. Drug-war bullshit must resonate with 50% or more of the voting public

All these anti-meth bills are creating hell for people with allergies. Since a vast majority of meth is coming from Mexico I don't know who is dumber, the voting public or the politicians who supposedly study the problem when making policy.

[Fumesucker]

24. LOL, there are no winners in a race to the bottom..

And that is exactly what we are engaging in.

I think if the average voter was to get, say, a week in a real prison they would be less inclined to want their children sent there.

Everyone thinks it's someone else's kids that are going to run afoul of the drug laws. I can't tell you the number of parents I've talked to that are gung ho on the drug war until I ask them "what about *your* kids going to prison". I used to be surprised at the number that tell me they never thought of that..

[tridim]

25. Obama will set his administration's drug policy, not Biden. nt

[Fumesucker]

27. You don't see choosing the most preeminent Dem drug warrior as VP

As being a signal as to which way Obama is going to swing regarding drug policy?

I certainly do, and I have to say that I'm unsurprised.

[tridim]

28. No. I trust Obama to do what's right.

[Fumesucker]

32. Obama is going to do what *he* thinks of as right...

For Obama.

That may not be the same thing as what _you_ think of as right.

For the rest of us.

[tridim]

33. How do you know this? And please be specific.

[Fumesucker]

34. LOL, the same way you "know" Obama is going to do the right thing.

Obama is just another politician, he will do what is best for Obama, just like virtually every other politician.

[tridim]

40. No, I said I TRUST him to do the right thing.

You're just bashing our nominee by making up shit.

[Fumesucker]

45. Trust, know.. there's a real difference there..

I'm not making up anything, at least no more than you are.

Keep in mind the the drug war greatly expanded under Bill (I didn't inhale) Clinton.

Biden's record on the drug war speaks for itself. There were other choices Obama could have made and he chose Biden.

I quit listening to what politicians say a long time ago and started paying attention to what they do.

As I said above, this is very personal for me, I have a loved one doing long hard time for a non-violent "drug crime" that is really nothing more than a crime against the state.

[classiclib4life]

44. K&R Biden must denounce his previous positions and rally AGAINST the war on drugs! NOW!

[Fumesucker]

46. Leopards seldom change their spots..

The only positive thing I can say about Biden in this situation is that at least he is not a hypocrite who quaffs alcohol while condemning those who prefer other recreational drugs to prison.

I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you, Obama knew Biden's record full well when he chose the man to be his running mate.

In fact, I'm cynical enough to think that Obama found Biden's stance on the drug war to be a plus, inoculating Obama against his own self-admitted druggie past.

[emulatorloo]

48. Sorry, not the time to be a single-issue voter

The only perfect politician is you, but apparenly you are not running this year,.

(Obviously you can vote how you would like, I'm just suggesting you look at the big picture and the man's entire record rather than nitpicking on a couple issues where you disagree)