On February 24, MPP announced that complaints had been filed with state election authorities in Montana, Oregon, and Alaska, charging that the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) -- led by Drug Czar John Walters -- failed to make the legally required disclosures of campaign expenses. Visit our "Official Complaints" page to view the three complaints.

On October 5, 2004, the drug czar traveled to Oregon for the purpose of opposing Measure 33, a ballot measure designed to expand the state's medical marijuana program. On October 6, ONDCP Deputy Director Scott Burns traveled to Montana to campaign against Initiative 148, the medical marijuana measure passed by voters in November. And on October 13 and 14, Burns traveled to Alaska to oppose Measure 2, a measure to allow the state to tax and regulate the sale of marijuana. All of these trips were widely reported in the local press as being campaign stops in opposition to the reform initiatives.

In each state, campaign finance laws specifically require persons or organizations who spend money either opposing or supporting ballot measures to report these expenditures. No such reports were filed by ONDCP.  MPP will keep pressure on the three state agencies to ensure that these violations are properly pursued.

On February 22, 2005, MPP sent a shot across Drug Czar John Walters' bow with a press release notifying the public that he is required by Illinois law to register as a lobbyist by the end of the day. The press release is available here.

MPP's action is in response to Walters' February 17 trip to Illinois, during which he lobbied the state House Human Services Committee to reject a medical marijuana bill.

Assuming Walters does not submit his registration immediately, the Illinois Secretary of State has 10 days to notify him about the failure to register. Should the Secretary of State fail to take action, MPP will pursue this matter in the courts.

MPP's first victory in "War on Drug Czar" campaign is short-lived; Nevada Supreme Court order allows Drug Czar to ignore state campaign finance laws

On May 6, 2004, MPP scored its first victory in its War on Drug Czar campaign when the Nevada Supreme Court issued an order declaring that MPP had "set forth issues of arguable merit" in its writ of mandamus filed two weeks earlier. This writ was filed as an appeal of the April 2003 opinion from the Nevada Attorney General (see a full list of related complaints) which concluded that the drug czar was not required to comply with Nevada's campaign finance laws. Because of this order, the state was forced to file an answer to MPP's writ.

Unfortunately, on August 18, 2004, the Court abruptly reversed course and declared, in a one-paragraph decision, that it was "not satisfied that [the] court's intervention by way of extraordinary relief is warranted." Notably, the Court completely failed to address the critical issue in the writ -- whether a federal official may be required by a state to file campaign finance reports. (Download the decision.)

MPP originally filed its complaint with the Nevada Secretary of State in December 2002 in order to force the drug czar to reveal how much of the taxpayers' money he had spent in an effort to defeat MPP's 2002 marijuana regulation ballot initiative.

Read the NTU press release and the sign-on letter to U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-VT).

Last year, MPP urged U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) to file a complaint with the General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, about inappropriate actions carried out by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). In an April 2, 2003 letter, available here, Paul asked the GAO to investigate whether a letter about marijuana "facts" sent by ONDCP to the nation's prosecutors 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."

On March 10, 2004, the GAO finally responded to Rep. Paul's complaint. (This response can be viewed here.) Unfortunately, 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."

MPP is outraged by this decision and will be pursuing legislative remedies to ensure that these government-sponsored lies about marijuana are prohibited.

Speaking in Seattle September 10, White House Drug Czar John Walters called for "a national debate" on marijuana policy. MPP's answer: We'll debate you anytime, anywhere!

Walters, who has repeatedly avoided debates or joint appearances with representatives of MPP and other drug policy reform organizations, issued brought up the subject during a press conference at which he denounced Seattle's Initiative 75, a measure to make arrest and prosecution of personal marijuana possession the lowest priority for local police and prosecutors. Despite -- or perhaps because of -- Walters' interference, the measure passed by an overwhelming margin.

Initial press reports of Walters' remarks did not mention the subject of a debate, but the September 17 Seattle Weekly quoted Walters as saying, "The real issue is, should we legalize marijuana? Let's have a national debate about that."

In a letter faxed to Walters' office that morning, MPP Executive Director Rob Kampia took Walters up on the proposal, offering to debate him on national television as soon as possible. "You were absolutely right when you told your Seattle audience that marijuana policy has never been properly and thoroughly debated in this country," Kampia wrote. "I have no doubt that -- once armed with all the facts -- the American people will make wise choices."

To read the full text of the letter, please see http://www.mpp.org/pdf/debate_invite.pdf (this file is in PDF format). To read MPP's press release announcing the challenge, see http://mpp.org/releases/nr091703walters.html.

On May 7, in a shockingly far-reaching decision, the supposedly independent federal Office of Special Counsel (OSC) wrote a letter to John Walters informing him that, as drug czar, he has a virtually unlimited right to use his office to campaign against drug policy initiatives on state ballots.

The letter was in response to a Marijuana Policy Project complaint against Walters based on the fact that he used his office to campaign against Question 9, the marijuana initiative that appeared on the November 2002 Nevada ballot. MPP alleged that Walters' actions violated the 1939 Hatch Act, which bars federal officials from using their official authority and influence to affect the result of an election.

The OSC wrote that votes on ballot initiatives are not "elections," despite a plain reference in the regulations indicating otherwise, and that the Hatch Act does not apply to nonpartisan activities. (Interestingly, the Bush administration recently advised federal Head Start employees that lobbying Congress in support of funding for early childhood education -- clearly a nonpartisan activity -- would be a Hatch Act violation.) This ruling means the drug czar can campaign as much he wants against state ballot initiatives using federal tax dollars. In addition, the OSC found nothing wrong with the idea that the drug czar may have steered a $3 million grant to Nevada this past fall to induce state officials to oppose Question 9 -- meaning the drug czar can use taxpayer money to bribe local officials to oppose drug policy reform measures.

All of the documents related to this complaint can be viewed on our official complaints page.