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05/22/2003: "US CA: Editorial: A Drug War Slush Fund"

Headline Courtesy of DrugNews Digest, MAP, Inc.
Copyright: 2003 The Orange County Register

A drug war slush fund

Perhaps one has to give some die-hard prohibitionists points for brazenness and for honesty of a sort. Last Thursday, a subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee specifically authorized the "drug czar" to use taxpayer money in political campaigns - as long as it is "to oppose an attempt to legalize the use" of any currently illegal drug.

Previously, the "drug czar," formally the head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, was legally barred from using the money appropriated for the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign for "partisan political purposes."

Drug-war leaders have wiggled around this requirement for years, of course. In 1996, then-drug czar Barry McCaffrey, with his repeated trips to meet with officials and express alarm, was almost the entire campaign against California's Proposition 215, the medical marijuana initiative approved by voters. Advocates complained about the possible use of taxpayer money to influence a political campaign. Drug-policy spokesmen said nothing incorrect was done and that Gen. McCaffrey was doing it on his own time, but never furnished documentation.

cont'd @ http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=40135§ion=COMMENTARY&subsection=EDITORIALS&year03&month=5&day=21

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