by TChris

Leave it to the Bush administration to explain to state voters what their own ballot initiatives mean.

Oregon voters approved a medical marijuana law in 1998. Now a new ballot initiative seeks to give the law some teeth by legalizing marijuana dispensaries throughout the state and by allowing patients to possess more pot. Jackie Lamont, general manager of the Compassion Center in Eugene, says the initiative is designed "to make the existing law work better."

But John Horton, associate deputy director for state and local affairs of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said there is "absolutely no question" that the measure is an attempt to legalize marijuana in Oregon.

Right. Because people who actually live in Oregon couldn't possibly know what their ballot initiatives mean. They need Big Brother Bush and his Washington minions to tell them the "truth" about their own proposed laws.

The "truth" that Horton is peddling: marijuana has no medicinal value. He'll likely have a rough time persuading the nearly 9,000 patients in Oregon who depend on marijuana for relief from pain, nausea, muscle spasms, glaucoma, and other infirmities.