By Government Decree: The Drug Czar IS the Minister of Disinformation

Via Cannabis News we learn that the General Accounting Office has given federal approval to the Drug Czar to lie to us (not that he needed it before).
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) complained to the United States General Accounting Office (GAO) back in April of last year about misleading statements used by the Drug Czar’s office (specifically this Scott Burns material) in order to lobby against drug reform efforts.
This week, the GAO responded (pdf). Their response includes the following:

Even though the statements may have been controversial, they were made within the context of ONDCP’s statutory responsibilities, which include taking such actions as necessary to oppose efforts to legalize certain controlled substances such as marijuana…
The Deputy Director’s statements about marijuana are thus within the statutory role assigned to ONDCP. Given this role, we do not see a need to examine the accuracy of the Deputy Director’s individual statements in detail.

So, in other words, since the mandate of the ONDCP includes doing whatever is necessary to oppose legalization, that automatically includes lying.
This makes it clear that the ONDCP must be completely abolished, or at minimum, have a congressionally mandated change in its mission.
Somewhat ironic that on the top of the GAO letterhead containing this statement are the words: “Accountability * Integrity * Reliability”
Right.