FRANK INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO REMOVE FEDERAL PENALTIES ON PERSONAL MARIJUANA USE

Congressman Barney Frank today introduced bi-partisan legislation
aimed at removing federal restrictions on the individual use of
marijuana A(HR 5843). One bill would remove federal penalties for
the personal use of marijuana, and the other (HR 5842) ... versions
of which Frank has filed in several preceding sessions of Congress
... would allow the medical use of marijuana in states that have
chosen to make its use for medical purposes legal with a doctor's
recommendation. Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) joined Frank as a
cosponsor of the federal penalties bill. The cosponsors of the
medical marijuana bill are Rep. Paul, along with Reps. Maurice
Hinchey (D-NY), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), and Sam Farr (D-CA).

Congressman Frank released the following statement explaining the legislation.

"I think it is poor law enforcement to keep on the books legislation
that establishes as a crime something which in fact society does not
seriously wish to prosecute. In my view, having federal law
enforcement agents engaged in the prosecution of people who are
personally using marijuana is a waste of scarce resources better used
for serious crimes. In fact, this type of prosecution often meets
with public disapproval. The most frequent recent examples have been
federal prosecutions of individuals using marijuana for medical
purposes in states that have voted ... usually by public referenda
.. to allow such use. Because current federal law has been
interpreted as superseding state law in this area, most states that
have made medical use of marijuana legal have been unable to actually
implement their laws.

"When doctors recommend the use of marijuana for their patients and
states are willing to permit it, I think it's wrong for the federal
government to subject either the doctors or the patients to criminal
prosecution. More broadly speaking, the norm in America is for the
states to decide whether particular behaviors should be made
criminal. To make the smoking of marijuana, whether for medical
purposes or not, one of those extremely rare instances of federal
crime ... literally, to make a 'federal case' out of it ... is
wholly disproportionate to the activity involved. We do not have
federal criminal prohibitions against drinking alcoholic beverages,
and there are generally no criminal penalties for the use of tobacco
at the state and federal levels for adults. There is no rational
argument for treating marijuana so differently from these other substances."

"To those who say that the government should not be encouraging the
smoking of marijuana, my response is that I completely agree. But it
is a great mistake to divide all human activity into two categories:
those that are criminally prohibited, and those that are encouraged.
In a free society, there must be a very considerable zone of activity
between those two poles in which people are allowed to make their own
choices as long as they are not impinging on the rights, freedom, or
property of others. I believe it is important with regard to
tobacco, marijuana and alcohol, among other things, that we strictly
regulate the age at which people may use these substances. And,
enforcement of age restrictions should be firm. But, criminalizing
choices that adults make because we think they are unwise ones, when
the choices involved have no negative effect on the rights of others,
is not appropriate in a free society."

"If the laws I am proposing pass, states will still be free to treat
marijuana as they wish. But I do not believe that the federal
government should treat adults who choose to smoke marijuana as
criminals. Federal law enforcement is a serious business, and we
should be concentrating our efforts in this regard on measures that
truly protect the public."

A summary of the bill is available here:

http://www.house.gov/frank/hr5843summary.html