Thread: Biden, Drug Warrior and Totalitarian

Joe Biden's Awful Record

Had to take a break from my vacation to register my disappointment in Obama’s selection of Biden.

I understand the rationale–Obama wants an attack dog to go after McCain while he appears to be above the fray. Biden also adds some foreign policy and Beltway heft to the ticket. The Beltway CW says this pick was safe, but not particularly bold. I think that’s about right.

But 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.

Biden does appear to have eased up a bit in the last couple years, including taking a fairly strong position against federal raids on medical marijuana clinics (though he still opposes making marijuana available for medicinal purposes). But that’s little consolation for all the damage he’s done over the years.

Biden’s record on other criminal justice and civil liberties issues is just as bad. Opponents of the federalization of crime might note that the 1994 crime bill he sponsored created several new federal capital offenses. Biden also wants to expand federal penalties for hate crimes. He supports a federal smoking ban. His position on the federal drinking age is, and I quote, “absolutely do not” lower it to 18. He believes “most violent crime is related to drugs” (if he had said “drug prohibition,” he’d be closer to the truth). Biden also has an almost perfect anti-gun voting record. He said last year he favors “universal national service,” either in the Peace Corps or the military. Sounds like conscription to me. He says he’s opposed to the PATRIOT Act, but he voted for both the original bill and its re-authorization in 2005.

Foreign policy? Biden voted for the war on Iraq. Yes, he’s opposed to it now (and I like the partition plan he pushed in the primaries). But he didn’t vote correctly when it counted most. Biden also voted to send troops into Darfur. He wants to enlarge NATO. He voted in favor of the air strikes in Kosovo. He voted to strengthen the trade embargo against Cuba. His seems to be a meddling, interventionist, Clinton-esque foreign policy. His first instinct seems to be that the U.S. military’s objective include some vague notion of “doing good in the world.” Never mind the disastrous consequences that notion has reaped over the years.

I obviously disagree with Biden on a host of economic and regulatory issues, too (though he does seem to be fairly decent on free trade). But that’s to be expected. My problem with Biden is that he’s not even good on the issues the left is supposed to be good on. He’s an overly ambitious, elitist, tunnel-visioned, Potomac-fevered Beltway dinosaur, with all the trappings. He may well have been the worst possible pick among congressional Democrats when it comes to the drug war and criminal justice.

Joe Biden -- Drug War Extremist

Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden has been arguably the most extreme drug warrior in the United States Senate since at least 1982 when he coined the mega-authoritarian phrase "drug czar" to describe the head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. He is also the man who is most responsible for pushing the "Rave Act" through Congress. The "Rave Act" is possibly the most absurd and potentially repressive piece of legislation the Congress has passed in recent years (and that's saying something!).

Biden's act was originally titled "Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy." The bill was introduced in 2002 during the great Ecstasy (aka MDMA) panic of the early 2000s. (More people die from bad reactions to normal doses of aspirin than from MDMA every year.) It was reintroduced in 2003. That year, another version of the law, titled "The Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act" was added to the "Amber Act," an emotionally fraught piece of legislation that created a national system for responding to child abduction, and which very few congress-people dared vote against. The "rave act" part of this legislation, signed into law by President George W. Bush, makes the sponsor of any public event legally responsible for any illegal drug exchanges or use that occurs at their event. The initial bill actually singled out raves as the likely enforcement target, but that language was changed as clearly prejudicial. In the words of a missive from the Drug Policy Alliance, which organized the opposition to this law, "Because of its broad language, the proposed law would even potentially subject people to twenty years in federal prison if guests smoked marijuana at their party or barbecue."

In fact, taken literally, the sponsor of the recent 68th annual Jackpine Gypsies motorcycle rally at the Buffalo Chips Campground, in South Dakota where John McCain was third-billed behind Kellie Pickler and Kid Rock, and where the smell of marijuana smoke wafted through the air - would be up for 20 years in an iron cage. A month after Biden's act was signed into law, DEA agents in Montana used it to intimidate the owners of a venue into canceling a benefit to raise money for Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

It is unclear whether this law has been used since that time, but every time the host of a private party, musical event, or Republican Party rally doesn't do everything within his or her power to make sure that absolutely nobody in attendance uses or exchanges any plants or chemicals that are currently illegal, he or she is technically liable for a punishment that is far more severe than the punishment that is meted out to the user or (probably) the dealer of the illicit substance.

Biden also wrote the law against shipping drug "paraphernalia" through the mail - that's the one that put Tommy Chong in jail.

Regarding medical marijuana for pain management, in 2007 Biden said, "There's got to be a better answer than marijuana." Of course, as every educated, informed person knows, the opiate drugs currently used for the management of intense pain are addictive, substantially harmful to health, and often fatal. The off-prescription use of these narcotics is the biggest drug problem today, particularly among young people. Marijuana has very few health counter-indications and there has never been a fatality from smoking or eating it.

There may be some recent signs of moderation in Biden's lifelong rut war fanaticism. In 2007, Biden introduced a bill to end the discrepancies between the punishment for possession of powdered and crack cocaine, effectively reducing the draconian sentences for possession and/or sale of small amounts of crack. And while campaigning in the recent Presidential primaries, Biden said he would end federal raids on medical marijuana patients (Of course, G.W. Bush said the same thing during the 2000 election campaign... and Bill Clinton told Rolling Stone we should decriminalize marijuana as he was leaving office).

It's interesting to note that earlier in the campaign, Senator Jim Webb of Virginia, a stalwart advocate of drug reform, was much discussed as the leading contender to become Obama's VP pick. Webb withdrew his name from consideration for that spot and has since commented on valuing his freedom to speak his mind.

Obama's positions on drug reform have been a moving target. Most famously, in 2004, Senator Obama said, "I think the war on drugs has been a failure, and I think we need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws." He went on to say that he opposed "legalizing" marijuana.

For the most part, Candidate Obama has been silent on the drug war, although he recently suggested that an extra DEA office would be just what the doctor ordered for New Orleans.

Looking on the bright side, it's possible that a stalwart drug warrior like Biden would have the credibility necessary to start winding down the excesses of the drug war (the "Nixon Goes to China" theory that only conservatives can get away with introducing certain types of reforms).


Really, the most disheartening thing about Obama's selection of Biden for Vice President isn't the selection itself, but the fact that Biden's history as a drug war fanatic doesn't even warrant mention... on CNN, MSNBC (including Keith Olbermann), or even on the first day's coverage at Huffington Post. The terrible reality is that the approximately 11 million pot smokers and the many other mostly responsible users of recreational drugs that don't happen to be on the approved list just don't count at all as far as the American political mainstream is concerned.

Originally Posted by Defensor

Biden's act was originally titled "Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy." The bill was introduced in 2002 during the great Ecstasy (aka MDMA) panic of the early 2000s. (More people die from bad reactions to normal doses of aspirin than from MDMA every year.)

Hey D, do you ever check your sources for accuracy? I mean, it would be easy enough to do rather than just assume the blog you posted was accurate.

Shocking news! More people take aspirin than ecstasy in the US, and those totals are not simply aspirin related, they are all anti-inflamatories.
Drug War Facts: Annual Causes of Death in the United States How many of those deaths are toxicity related from Ibuprofen, an over the counter drug that after 1 gram ingestion you can shut down your liver?
Nonprescription use of ibuprofen and the risk of gastrointestinal toxicity

Originally Posted by Think for myself

Hey D, do you ever check your sources for accuracy? I mean, it would be easy enough to do rather than just assume the blog you posted was accurate.

Shocking news! More people take aspirin than ecstasy in the US, and those totals are not simply aspirin related, they are all anti-inflamatories.
Drug War Facts: Annual Causes of Death in the United States How many of those deaths are toxicity related from Ibuprofen, an over the counter drug that after 1 gram ingestion you can shut down your liver?
Nonprescription use of ibuprofen and the risk of gastrointestinal toxicity

I know I've hit a home run here when the best response you can come up with is some technical discussion of ibuprofen.

Feel free to comment on the actual subject of the thread any moment now.

Originally Posted by Defensor

Feel free to comment on the actual subject of the thread any moment now.

Sure.

Your thread is stupid. You are attempting to equate a common medicine with a dangerous intoxicant that has no controls over the manufacture.

What do you think of Joe Biden and his support of the war, and his measures in the war on drugs?

Originally Posted by Buddha86

What do you think of Joe Biden and his support of the war, and his measures in the war on drugs?

Yeah, I thought it was pretty obvious that that was the thread topic. TFM must have made a wrong turn on his way to the ibuprofen discussion forum.

Originally Posted by Defensor

Yeah, I thought it was pretty obvious that that was the thread topic. TFM must have made a wrong turn on his way to the ibuprofen discussion forum.

Nope, just citing the horrible inaccuracies in yet another one of your stupid op ed pieces that you use as some source of fact. At least you are consistent in not providing relevant or accurate information.

Originally Posted by Think for myself

Nope, just citing the horrible inaccuracies in yet another one of your stupid op ed pieces that you use as some source of fact. At least you are consistent in not providing relevant or accurate information.

If you're not going actually discuss the thread topic, don't post here. Enough with the trolling.

Originally Posted by Defensor

If you're not going actually discuss the thread topic, don't post here. Enough with the trolling.

Sure. Let's discuss it.

The thread topic is moot because you did not support your argument with fact.