by Joseph A. Califano Jr.

About the author: Joseph A. Califano Jr. is the president of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

Surely the right to speak in support of any idea, however outrageous, carries the obligation not to lie about it. Despite the battery of television spots in which office-seekers splattered each other with negative ads, false accusations and slanderous innuendos, the Anything Goes Emmy for Political Hoodwink in 1996 does not go to a candidate. It belongs to the campaigns in Arizona and California to pass pro-drug legalization propositions, sold to voters as getting tough on violent criminals and offering compassionate care for the dying.

And the award for best supporting role goes to billionaire George Soros, the Daddy Warbucks of drug legalization. He doesn’t reside in either state...