Joe Biden has the ‘worst record’ of any Democratic or Republican presidential candidate when it comes to marijuana law reform, the largest pot legalization group in the nation said on Thursday.
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, called Biden’s record “abysmal” and described him as “one of the architects of many of our nation’s draconian drug policies.”
“Joe Biden has an abysmal record when it comes to marijuana law reform, ending our failed war on drugs, and addressing mass incarceration,” said NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri. “Biden’s views are far out of step with the American public and he holds the worst record on cannabis-related policy of any individual currently running for the Democratic or Republican nomination.”
Criminal justice reform advocates have criticized Biden for helping to craft the 1994 crime law that implemented mandatory life sentences for repeat offenders and increased funding for prisons by nearly $10 billion. He also spearheaded stricter drug enforcement legislation in the 1980s and 1990s.
Bill Bennett, the drug czar under the George H.W. Bush administration, told the Washington Examiner this month that he worked “hand-in-glove” with Biden to craft federal anti-drug policy in the late 1980s. He said Biden’s only complaint was that Bennett’s proposals weren’t “tough enough.”
“The pushback I had [from Biden] was, ‘Czar, you’re not being tough enough,’” said Bennett. “He told me over and over again, ‘I want you to get after it.’”
Biden recently distanced himself from those positions, saying in January that he made a “big mistake” by pushing for harsher prison sentences for crack cocaine possession.
“We thought, we were told by the experts, that crack, you never go back; it was somehow fundamentally different. It’s not different,” said Biden during an event honoring the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. in January.
But that mea culpa didn’t go far enough, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. The group called on Biden to apologize for his past positions and also put forward a plan to “right the wrongs” of anti-drug laws if he wants to be taken seriously by criminal justice reform advocates.
“He needs to address his history as one of the architects of many of our nation’s draconic drug policies, apologize for these mistakes, and present a plan to right the wrongs that criminalization has wrought upon millions of people, principally those in minority and poor communities, if he wants to even be considered by anyone who prioritizes real criminal justice reform,” said Altieri.