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Modeled on the amendment to the U.S. Constitution that repealed the prohibition of alcohol, the legislation is being cast by the Marijuana Policy Project as the "the first bill ever introduced in Congress to end federal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
