From ‘Drug War Joe’ to ‘Dank Brandon’: A Timeline of Biden and Weed
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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.
On Thursday, Biden announced on Twitter that he would pardon all people convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law. 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”). GOP Rep. 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. 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. And Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman took a break from hammering his opponent Dr. Oz to tweet, “This is a BFD and a massive step towards justice. Thank you, Mr. President.”
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Some activists have pointed out that the number of those affected by the federal pardons, which will only apply to those convicted of ‘simple marijuana possession,’ will be relatively low — about 6,500 people, none of whom are currently incarcerated. Stephanie Shepard, a partnerships manager with the non-profit group Last Prisoner Project, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison as a first-time, non-violent offender, but her record will not be affected because her charge was conspiracy to distribute. “Any time someone receives any type of relief from the collateral consequences of the war on the plant, I’m happy,” Shepard says. “Having a felony follows you and impacts your life in many ways. Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone in federal prison for ‘simple possession.’ No one was released from prison as a result of President Biden’s announcement.”
And 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. 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. “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. “Don’t Run, Uncle Joe,” Jamelle Bouie urged in a rundown of Biden’s track record for Slate. So how did Biden go from “Drug War Joe” to “Dank Brandon,” progressive weed hero?
1981
Delaware Sen. Joseph R. 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. 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. “We need one person to call the shots,” Biden said.
1984-1986
Biden works with far-right Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond and the Reagan Administration to pass the Comprehensive Control Act. 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. 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. A 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.
1988
Biden 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.
1989
Biden appears on national television to criticize a plan by President George H.W. Bush to escalate the Drug War; his criticism is that the plan isn’t harsh enough on offenders. ”Quite frankly, the President’s plan is not tough enough, bold enough, or imaginative enough to meet the crisis at hand,” Biden says. “[Democrats] 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.”
1994
The controversial legislation known as the 1994 Crime Bill is Biden’s most significant contribution to the expansion of policing the drug war. The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, written by Biden, increases funds for police and prisons, fueling an expansion of the federal prison population. It also newly applies the federal death penalty to 60 crimes, including large-scale drug trafficking and drive-by-shootings resulting in death. Biden brags after the law passes that “the liberal wing of the Democratic Party” is now for “60 new death penalties,” “70 enhanced penalties,” “100,000 cops,” and “125,000 new state prison cells.”
2003
Biden is the chief sponsor of the RAVE Act, enacted as a rider of a larger piece of legislation in 2003, making it easier for prosecutors to fine and imprison property owners and rave promoters for failing to prevent drug-related offenses on their premises. “The RAVE Act chills free speech,” the ACLU declares, “and harms the very people it’s meant to help.”
2008
Before Biden leaves the Senate to become vice president, he works to pull back prison sentences for crack cocaine, which helps lead to the Fair Sentencing Act signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010. And he’s since acknowledged his mistakes. “I haven’t always been right” on criminal justice, Biden says to CNN in 2019. “I know we haven’t always gotten things right, but I’ve always tried.”
And while he states support for expunging marijuana convictions during his campaign, Biden is iffy on the potential impact of cannabis legalization. “The truth of the matter is, there’s not nearly been enough evidence that has been acquired as to whether or not it is a gateway drug,” Biden says at a town hall in Las Vegas in November 2019.
2022
Yesterday, Biden tweets, “We classify marijuana at the same level as heroin – and more serious than fentanyl. It makes no sense. I’m asking @SecBecerra and the Attorney General to initiate the process of reviewing how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.” On a call with reporters ahead of the announcement, a White House official says that while Biden is asking for a review process, it will “take some time because it must be based on a careful consideration of all of the available evidence, including scientific and medical information that’s available.”
While Democrats hope that Biden’s historic move towards cannabis reform will buoy up party candidates as the midterms approach, progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are already pushing for moving beyond pardons and expunging records entirely. Stephanie Shepard says that the next step should be for Biden to extend pardons to those convicted of other non-violent cannabis offenses, including conspiracy to distribute. “He has the power with the stroke of a pen to bring home thousands who are prisoners of this war.”
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