MARIJUANA ON THE TABLE

Congressmen Barney Frank (D., Mass.) and Ron Paul (R., Texas) have
introduced a bill to end the federal prohibition on marijuana and free
the states to decide whether to legalize the drug for medical or
recreational purposes.

Under the best of circumstances, congressional action would be just
the right medicine for Gov. Christie, who has refused to sign New
Jersey's medical-marijuana law until he is certain that federal
authorities would honor it.

Some medical-marijuana dispensaries in California were raided by the
Drug Enforcement Administration earlier this year, despite being legal
and despite the Obama administration's having said it would lay off
dispensaries that operate within state laws.

But the Frank-Paul bill is unlikely to go anywhere soon, if it moves
at all, which means New Jersey cancer and other patients who would
benefit from medical marijuana are unlikely to get relief unless
Christie relies on previous assurances that federal authorities gave
to the states.

Under the Frank-Paul measure, states would be able to choose to keep
the drug outlawed, decriminalize it for medical purposes, or make it
completely legal. Federal authorities' involvement would be limited to
prosecuting international or interstate smuggling.

If nothing else, the legislation might open the door to a conversation
that this country needs to have about the future course of the war on
drugs, which has produced dubious results since being declared decades
ago.

The Sentencing Project, a prison reform organization, says almost half
of all U.S. drug arrests are for marijuana, and nearly 80 percent of
the marijuana arrests are for possession. Only about 6 percent of the
marijuana cases lead to a felony conviction.

And what is the impact? An estimated $4 billion is spent annually on
the arrest, prosecution, and incarceration of marijuana offenders.
Those arrests disproportionately impact African Americans, who
represent about 14 percent of marijuana users but 30 percent of arrests.

The federal government's current approach to marijuana certainly needs
clarity, so the states can take up the issue and consider all the
implications of legalization without fearing that whatever they do
would be moot.

Marijuana is a drug that should be regulated to some degree. But there
is strong evidence that current laws should be updated.