[Note: Cross-posted from FireDogLake]

It’s not exactly news when opponents of marijuana policy reform lie. In fact, it would surprise a lot of us if they suddenly began engaging in honest debate. But in Massachusetts, the opponents of Question 2 have gone off the deep end. And more disturbingly, they’ve now aligned themselves with a notorious out-of-state group that is shadowed by allegations of child abuse.

Question 2 is a modest policy proposal that would make the possession of a small amount of marijuana a civil offense: Offenders would have their marijuana confiscated, receive a $100 ticket, and be sent on their way, without the threat of jail and a lifelong criminal record. Question 2 will save taxpayers millions every year and bring Massachusetts’ marijuana law in line with common sense. Not that you’d ever know this from listening to its law enforcement opponents.

Beginning earlier this week, they began airing a spectacularly dishonest radio ad that characterizes the initiative as “legalization” and claims it will “put marijuana – a dangerous and addictive drug — into the hands of our children.” In response, the Question 2 campaign aired its own ad.

Never mind that a 2001 National Research Council study found that use rates don’t vary significantly between the 11 states that have decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana and the rest of the country, or that this finding was replicated on an international scale by a World Health Organization study earlier this year. The DAs and their allies aren’t about to let inconvenient facts stand in the way of their allegations.

As it turns out, though, these allegations aren’t just false; they’re deeply hypocritical and disturbing.

As the opposition ad curiously goes out of its way to note, it’s sponsored by an “out-of-state organization,” the Florida-based Save Our Society from Drugs (SOS). SOS is the political lobbying — or, in technical IRS terms, 501(c)4 — arm of the Drug Free America Foundation (DFAF), previously known as Straight Inc. ... one of the most notorious drug war abominations.

Straight Inc. was a network of “treatment facilities” originally based in Florida that were shut down amid lawsuits and investigations regarding horrifying physical and emotional abuse of the young people in its care. John Gorenfeld published a powerful expose on Alternet back in 2005, which is a crucial, if sobering, read.

The hypocrisy is simply staggering. Opponents of Question 2 fault the initiative’s proponents for accepting donations from out of state in an ad sponsored by a group from Florida. And they claim to know what’s best for our children, yet want to give young people lifelong arrest records for possessing small amounts of marijuana, even as they work with an organization that has a history of abusing children.

Proponents and supporters are hopeful that voters can see through the scare tactics and relentless hypocrisy. In the meantime, we’re going to continue to draw attention to who these drug warriors really are and work to pass Question 2 at the polls next month.