WASHINGTON (AFP) – US lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bill that would legalize marijuana nationwide but allow each state to regulate, tax and control the drug itself.
They acknowledged, however, that the bill has virtually no chance of becoming law.
"We believe the federal government shouldn't be involved with prosecuting adults smoking marijuana," said Democratic Congressman Barney Frank. "We don't have enough prosecutors or police officers to do so."
The bill is the first ever effort to legalize the production and consumption of marijuana nationwide.
Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized the production and consumption of marijuana for medical purposes, while 14 states have decriminalized small amounts for consumption.
"I don't expect to pass it in this Congress," added Frank. "But I think we're making progress. This is an educational process."
Some 850,000 Americans were arrested in 2009 for marijuana-related offenses, and about 90 percent of those cases were for possession, according to figures from the FBI.
"The drug war has not worked, clearly," said Representative Jared Polis, a Democrat from Colorado.
The Obama administration's Office of National Drug Control Policy, which opposes legalization, contends that marijuana potency has tripled in the past 20 years and that the age of teen drug users is getting younger.
It also says that 30 percent of people who have used marijuana in the past year say they are dependent on the drug.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon, whose country is the main supplier of marijuana and amphetamines to the United States, warned recently that legalizing cannabis would make it tougher for countries like Mexico to prosecute farmers for growing a product that was legal in the United States.
"I would say to President Calderon that he does what he thinks is right in Mexico and I'll do what I think is right in the United States," said Frank, who said the bill would not allow the importation of the drug.
But, he said, the legalization of cannabis in the United States, the biggest drug consuming country in the world, would "produce a shift in the market."
Three weeks ago a group of ex-presidents of Latin America as well as former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan denounced the failure of the global war on drugs and called for urgent changes, including the legalization of cannabis.
