REBELLION AGAINST THE DRUG CZAR

Drug Czar John Walters Wants Us All To Make The Right Decisions.

Not just about what chemicals we choose to put in our body, but about how
we choose to vote. He campaigned against Nevada's ballot initiative this
November that would have legalized marijuana possession in that state.

It might seem a trifle unfairoand possibly in violation of campaign finance
laws for someone with a $180 million ad budget and the full power of the
federal government behind him to explicitly throw his weight around in a
state election. The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) thinks so, and on
December 4 they intend to file an official complaint with the federal
Office of Special Counsel, charging that Walters violated both the federal
Hatch Act (which prohibits federal employees from indulging in certain
campaigning activities) and Nevada campaign finance laws, since he didn't
report his anti-initiative activities as campaign contributions. MPP chief
Robert Kampia is calling for Walters to be removed from office for his
"illegal and dishonest activities."

This isn't the drug czar office's first attempt to extend its
propagandizing beyond traditional public service ads. The Clinton-era drug
czar's office launched a program of paying off networks to include
anti-drug messages in entertainment programs.

While it's undoubtedly true that campaign junkets by bureaucrats and very
special episodes of TV shows aren't major decision-making factors for most
Americans, the drug czar office's shameless attempts to use money they've
stolen from us to tell us what to think, and how to vote, and what TV
characters we should be pitying, shows a lack of respect for democracy and
culture that's galling, to say the least.

While the thin props that hold up John Walters sad little propaganda
dreamworld are collapsing almost daily (see the recent study from the RAND
Drug Policy Research Center debunking the notion that marijuana is always
the first step on the road to junkiedom) it's unsurprising that he
desperately inserts himself into every situation where an American might
get to think for herself about drugs and drug laws. The Drug Czar office
has certainly violated a basic American notion of government: that it should
protect our lives and property, not propagandize us at election time. The
MPP is challenging that the office is violating the law as well. If so, the
full force of the law should weigh on Walters, just as he advocates it
weigh on users of a certain selection of herbs and chemicals.