A House committee is marking up a bill on May 22 that could strike at the heart of ballot initiatives nationwide, significantly undermining the efforts of drug policy reformers. A little-known segment of a bill reauthorizing the mission of the nation's anti-drug agency could give the drug czar authority to use taxpayer dollars to pay for media campaigns directly targeting state ballot measures. If the bill passes, and agency chief John Walters uses public funds to hammer initiatives the administration opposes, it would run counter to the whole purpose of ballot initiatives, establish a disturbing precedent for federal electioneering and hobble advocates pushing for saner alternatives to the War on Drugs.

The Marijuana Policy Project says in an email we received Monday:

If you want to prevent President Bush from spending up to a billion dollars in advertising against the Marijuana Policy Project's state
campaigns for medical marijuana and general marijuana policy reform, please send a pre-written letter to your U.S. representative. This link will take you
directly to a page where you will enter your name and address. Then, you will just need to select a letter and hit send.

The anti-drug ads have already tried to convince the American people that marijuana is the most harmful drug available and that marijuana use leads to gun violence, date rape, teen pregnancy, auto accidents, gang killings, and terrorism. If Congress gets its way, the anti-drug ads -- funded with a billion tax dollars -- will now be telling citizens how to vote!

Here's more.