A group of House members led by Reps. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Barney Frank (D-Mass.) plan to introduce legislation Thursday that would legalize the use of marijuana and allow states to develop their own rules on the drug's use within their borders.
Modeled on the amendment to the U.S. Constitution that repealed the prohibition of alcohol, the legislation is being cast by the Marijuana Policy Project as the "the first bill ever introduced in Congress to end federal marijuana prohibition."
I've read elsewhere that neither Paul nor Frank really expects the law to pass but both hope it will reinvigorate the discussion of marijuana policies. I think it would also be nice if the overall concept of federalism were reivigorated, with the central government stripped of many of the powers it has grabbed from the states. But marijuana probably isn't a very good jumping-off point for that discussion given the country's anti-drug
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You might be misjudging the country's anti-drug sentiments, Leo. We're tired of fighting wars we can't win.
Something like 14 states have legalized medical marijuana, which is still illegal under federal law. An ABC poll in January 2010 says that 4/5 of us want to legalize medical marijuana and 56% of us want to decriminalize it.
I'm quite willing to spend less to fight the war on marijuana. I'd like to see a $20 ticket for smoking in public, and a $100 ticket for smoking where kids are exposed, but that goes for tobacco, too, not just marijuana.