Holder Versus Obama on Man-Min Sentences

It looks like former Eric H. Holder, Jr., is likely to be tapped by President-elect Barack Obama as his nominee to become the next attorney general. Holder is a former deputy AG during the Clinton administration, who previously served as a judge and U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. If confirmed by the Senate, Holder would become the country's first African-American AG.

Oh, and he's also a fan of increasing penalties for marijuana possession and use. Indeed, unlike Obama, who has said he would forbid the Drug Enforcement Administration from using taxpayer funds to bust medi-pot patients taking the drug in compliance with state law, and, importantly, has come out publicly as a foe of mandatory minimum sentences, especially for non-violent drug offenders. It's a position that appears to run contrary to Holder's feelings about man-min sentencing.

While Holder was the U.S. attorney in D.C., he was actually in favor of increasing man-mins for pot possession – and sought to make pot selling in the district a felony. Under Holder's 1996 plan, a first time offender would receive an 18-month sentence. Possession with intent to distribute would net a five-year term. "I've been criticized for [the plan] by reporters in various publications, saying things like I have 'reefer madness'," Holder said in a 1997 interview with Insight on the News. But that's simply not the case, he said. Rather, he was reacting to an increases in the number of juveniles arrested in the district who also tested positive for pot use. (And, certainly, incarcerating users and dealers will shrink that number.) "What concerns me is down the road," he continued. "In 15 to 20 years we're going to see the effects of these young guys [involved in drugs] – 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."

Of course, the former U.S.A.'s future boss, the former pot-smoking Obama, would clearly be an exception to the Holder rule.