When it comes to how he has handled the federal/state conflict regarding medical marijuana and he will handle now that two states have adopted full legalization, President Obama has a habit of lying to try to shift responsibility on to Congress. Once again, in an interview with Barbara Walters that will air this evening, Obama heavily implied that he would need Congress to change marijuana’s legal status.

I often read reporters promoting the myth of powerless top government officials, such as the false claim that it takes 60 votes in the Senate to pass anything. Or it’s the insistence that the President wants to do something, but can’t, because he is powerless on his own. This myth of the toothless President is perfectly exemplified by this article about drug policy, where a President actually has broad discretion to act.

An incredible three-fourths of American voters want President Obama to stop using federal resources to crack down on state medical marijuana programs, according to a new Mason-Dixon poll sponsored by the Marijuana Policy Project.

Apparently unable to find a legitimate or honest defense for his administration’s behavior regarding medical marijuana, President Obama instead resorted to a lie to Rolling Stone about what the law actually says. He claimed he could not change the legality of medical marijuana, but petitions from Governors have told him he can change marijuana’s status under current law.

It is often asserted, sometimes in reference to Ron Paul’s views on drug laws, that a President is powerless to end elements of the “war on drugs” without Congressional assent, but our drug laws give the President significant powers to reclassify drugs to change their legality.

A spokesman for Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin (D) told the AP that he will join the recent petition filed by other governors to the federal government requesting marijuana be rescheduled. Yesterday, Washington state Governor Christine Gregoire (D) and Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee (I) jointly filed the petition to the Drug Enforcement Agency asking that marijuana be moved from schedule I to at least schedule II.

As part of his “we can’t wait” initiative, President Obama is announcing a series of actions the executive can take without Congressional approval to help deal with the nation’s economic problems. The concept, however, would also apply to legalizing medical marijuana. All it takes is executive action to reclassify marijuana as a drug that can be legally prescribed and used.