The unlikely duo of Ron Paul and Barney Frank have unveiled legislation that would end the federal government's prohibition of marijuana and leave the legalization issue up to individual states. As they've said already, "this is not a legalization bill," according to a Frank spokesperson via The Wall Street Journal. Instead, it's an attempt to reconcile the illegality of the drug under federal law with the 16 states who have already made medical marijuana legal. The House bill is being deemed the "the first bill ever introduced in Congress to end federal marijuana prohibition," by the Marijuana Policy Project, a group lobbying to make the drug legal. At Reason, Mike Riggs called up an MPP spokesman who parsed the bill's chances of being passed this way: "It's definitely going to get a serious debate, probably more in the media than on the floor of the House...But I think it needs to be debated on the floor."

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at ehayden at nationaljournal dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Erik Hayden