Proposed Federal Legislation Would End Marijuana Prohibition

Today, June 23, 2011, historic bipartisan legislation to end marijuana prohibition was introduced in the House of Representatives. I was delighted to see that the proposed legislation is quite similar to that which I suggested in my blog post last fall.

As with the end of alcohol prohibition--but without the need to change the constitution--the new law would end the criminalization of marijuana at the federal level, and would leave it to the states to devise their own marijuana policies. The proposed legislation, introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), would limit the federal government's role to prevent smuggling across state lines or national borders. In this way, marijuana would come to be treated in a variety of ways by the various states, as is already the case with alcohol and tobacco.

The proposed legislation follows on the heels of the Report of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, which declared the War on Drugs a failure and made a series of recommendations, including "Replace drug policies and strategies driven by ideology and political convenience with fiscally responsible policies and strategies grounded in science, health, security and human rights - and adopt appropriate criteria for their evaluation." The Report was prepared by an extraordinary international group of nineteen leaders, including the former presidents or prime ministers of five countries, a former secretary general of the United Nations, a former U. S. Secretary of State and a former foreign minister of another country, a former Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve, and other internationally distinguished figures in a variety of areas.

Following the Report, former President Jimmy Carter wrote a New York Times op-ed piece on the 40th anniversary of the start of the War on Drugs, similarly bemoaning its failure, and calling for action to implement the Report's recommendations.

The proposed legislation is an initial move to do just what the Commission and President Carter recommended.

Image Source:

A photograph of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) in Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, credited to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marijuana.jpg

Check out my most recent book, The Myth of Race, which debunks common misconceptions, as well as my other books at http://amazon.com/Jefferson-M.-Fish/e/B001H6NFUI

The Myth of Race is available on Amazon http://amzn.to/10ykaRU and Barnes & Noble http://bit.ly/XPbB6E

Friend/Like me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JeffersonFishAuthor

Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@jeffersonfish

Visit my website: www.jeffersonfish.com