White House Gets Permission to Lie

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NORML

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MARCH 11, 2004

White House Gets Permission to Lie

GAO Rules Banning "Misleading Information" Don't Apply to Drug Czar


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Responding to a request by U.S. Rep. Ron Paul  (R-TX), the General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative arm of  Congress, yesterday gave the White House Office of National Drug  Control Policy unfettered permission to mislead the public in the name  of opposing "drug legalization."

     In the run-up to the November 2002 elections, ONDCP campaigned  aggressively against state ballot measures to reform marijuana laws and  other anti-drug policies. Part of this effort was a letter to local  prosecutors from ONDCP Deputy Director Scott Burns, which made a number  of statements considered misleading by experts, including the claims  that "marijuana and violence are linked" and "no credible research  suggests" that marijuana has medical uses.

     In an April 2, 2003, letter, Paul asked the GAO to investigate  whether the Burns letter violated the ban on use of taxpayer funds for  "publicity and propaganda" as well as the longstanding GAO position  that "the government should not disseminate misleading information."

     In its March 10 response to Paul, the GAO declared, in essence,  that the truth or falsity of ONDCP's statements is irrelevant. "ONDCP  is specifically charged with the responsibility for 'taking such  actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use' of  certain controlled substances such as marijuana," wrote GAO General  Counsel Anthony Gamboa. "Given this role, we do not see a need to  examine the accuracy of the Deputy Director's individual statements in  detail."

     The declaration appears to contradict prior GAO actions. In 1976,  for example, the GAO ruled that a pamphlet about nuclear energy was  "not a proper document for release to the public" because of its  misleading and one-sided statements.

     "Amazingly, the GAO has ruled that the truth simply doesn't matter  in the so-called 'War on Drugs,' " said Steve Fox, director of  government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington,  D.C. "This is even more shocking than the simultaneous GAO ruling on  the administration's Medicare ads. In that case they suggested the ads  were perhaps in a gray zone, but here they are saying that accuracy is  irrelevant and lying is not a problem. We believe the American public  expects better from their government."

Instead of giving money to fund colleges to promote learning, why don't they pass a Constitutional Amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as good as the Prohibition one did, why, in five years we would have the smartest race of people on earth.
--Will Rogers