No surprise here. In the 1980s, Biden was to the right of Reagan on the failed "War on Drugs"
"Biden is correct that the surge began in the 1970s and accelerated in the 1980s, but a closer look at his role reveals that it was Biden who was among the principal and earliest movers of the policy agenda that would become the war on drugs and mass incarceration, and he did so in the face of initial reluctance from none other than President Ronald Reagan. Indeed, Reagan even vetoed a signature piece of Biden legislation, which he drafted with arch segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, to create a federal “drug czar.”
Biden has argued that the focus on his 1994 crime bill as a driver of mass incarceration is misplaced. He’s right — it was his earlier push that was responsible.
theintercept.com