Hit & Run: Lying About Drugs OK, Says GAO #

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) wonders, to the General Accounting Office (GAO), whether it’s OK that the Office of National Drug Control Policy uses taxpayer money to spread lies about drug use in order to influence state elections. GAO says, sure. #

Short background: In November of 2002, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) sent a letter to all local prosecutors in the United States. The letter contained certain statements about marijuana use that were claimed by the ONDCP to be “truth,” but several of which are false or at least seriously disputed by reputable thinkers on the subject. Unfortunately, the statistics in the ONDCP’s letter are not sourced, but you can read one response to the points raised in the letter here. #

So, about a year ago, Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) send a letter to the GAO asking that they investigate the actions of the ONDCP in sending this letter in relation to whether the agency “violated the ban on using federal funds for ‘publicity or propaganda.’” The GAO responded (PDF) with a six-page letter that said, in short, that the ONDCP is basically just fulfilling its mandate to rid the country of drugs, and if lies happen to be a part of that, that’s not something the GAO can do anything about. #

So it seems to me that all the GAO is saying is that they can’t stop the ONDCP from doing what its doing based on any violation of GAO policies. (Though I do wonder why lying isn’t against GAO policy… perhaps because the GAO shouldn’t be in the position of making that call?) The GAO response points to the ONDCP’s “statutory role,” which is to oppose efforts to legalize marijuana. So, if you read between the lines, the GAO is saying that Congress is going to have to be the one to squelch the ONDCP. Which means that some Congressperson is going to have to actually take a stand against drug prohibition. Any wagers on when that’ll happen? (We’ve stopped accepting bets on “When Hell Freezes Over.”) #

What this points out, then, is that the ONDCP isn’t a neutral body (big duh) but a propaganda office (big duh). Rather than okaying lying, the GAO has only pointed out the innate, federally mandated hypocrisy of the drug policy. #

Lying to enforce policy isn’t okay, but an even bigger problem is that we never engaged in sufficient debate or study before adopting this drug policy, and in fact the kind of research that might enlighten us on the real dangers of drugs, if any, has been directly hampered by US drug policy (see here, for example). #

I’m looking forward to seeing this kind of debate shape up – how do we make sure that government agencies are as value-neutral as possible? Or should they even attempt to be? #

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Monday, March 15th, 2004 @ 12:29 pm Truth Matters
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