Likely AG Nominee Says No to Drugs

The word is out: Eric Holder is Obama's likely pick for Attorney General. Holder is a veteran of the Clinton administration and is currently in private practice in Washington, D.C. Before working as Deputy AG under Janet Reno, he was a U.S. Attorney for D.C. and a judge in the district, and a strong proponent of strict drug laws and mandatory minimums.

From the Washington Times in 1996, via TalkLeft:

Eric Holder yesterday said he will seek to make marijuana distribution in the District a felony and reinstate mandatory-minimum sentences for convicted drug dealers. Mr. Holder,...said the D.C. Council's vote a year ago to repeal mandatory minimums was "misguided," leading to a backlog in the court system. He also warned that the city is on the verge of an explosion in violence associated with the sale and use of marijuana.

"The truth of the matter is that marijuana is a significant problem for the city," said Mr. Holder in an interview. "Crack cocaine still drives most of the violence in this city, but marijuana violence is increasing. We need to nip it in the bud."

Here's more from Holder, in an interview with Insight Magazine in 2000:

Insight: What examples of the human cost of drug abuse did you witness when you were walking the streets of the district?

EH: I saw it in a stark way when I was a judge in the district - when I actually had the people in front of me who were defendants of drug-related violence. It's not an overstatement to say the drug problem has fundamentally changed the district. There have been complaints that certain sectors, especially certain parts of our cities that are the most distressed, have been wiped out - a whole generation of young black men. Their lives have been ruined from involvement with drugs. It's breathtaking.

What concerns me is down the road. In 15 to 20 years we're going to see the effects of these young guys - there will be no young men and women to take leadership positions in the city. They are not going to be around. They will be dead or in jail or otherwise affected physically and mentally by drugs and they will not have the chance to lead traditional, productive lives.

Aside from a law-enforcement perspective, just as a citizen and a black man, that gives me great concern.

Insight: What did you do as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia to combat the drug problem?

EH: I supported stiff penalties. I tried to get the city council to reimpose mandatory minimum sentences with regard to the drug cases we brought in Superior Court. Given the harm that drugs have done, I believe that mandatory minimum sentences are appropriate and make the [Superior Court's] drug court more effective.

Of course, drug laws aren't the only factor President-elect Obama considers in choosing an attorney general, or a vice president. But let's hope Obama listens to his own words in 2004, saying the war on drugs is "an utter failure" and supporting decriminalization of pot, instead of his drug warrior VP and AG.