Bruce Merkin, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said the federal government may have violated the law by using taxpayer funds to campaign against reform initiatives in Ohio, Nevada and Arizona.

"There are legal, and frankly, moral questions here, particularly when you consider that Walters went through some effort in his campaign to demonize those who were running these initiatives while he runs his own campaign with an open checkbook of taxpayer money," Merkin said.

The drug-reform initiatives were defeated in all three states. While Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws, said the initiatives failed for many reasons, he said the federal government's efforts should be reviewed. "If they take money from the federal bureaucracy to travel to another state to deter its citizens from voting a certain way, it may be criminal," he said.

Walters office responded to the allegations by saying that the drug czar's campaigning was part of his duties. "His job is to go across the country and educate people about the dangers of drugs, and that's exactly what he did," said Jennifer Devallance, spokeswoman for the ONDCP.

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