This article is cross-posted from Woman Tribune.

The War on Drugs and marijuana legalization have been frequent top news stories throughout the month.

On June 2, the Global Commission on Drug Policy released a report that called for a major change in global drug policy. Not being the type of folks to tell governments what they should change without telling them how, they also included some pretty bold recommendations for how this change could be achieved, including experimenting with the legalization of marijuana, putting an end to drug policies being driven by ideology and politics, and directing resources away from arresting and incarcerating people for drug law violations in such large, sweeping numbers.

The War on Drugs, declared by former President Nixon where he called for the full prohibition of marijuana and other drugs, turned 40 last week. To tie in with this anniversary, former President Jimmy Carter wrote an oped for the New York Times wherein he called for the reform of marijuana laws.

Today will be written in the history books (well, we can hope anyway) as the day in which the first historic legislation to end marijuana prohibition was introduced in Congress, because that is exactly what is happening today.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) will introduce bi-partisan legislation ending the federal war on marijuana and letting states legalize, regulate, tax, and control marijuana without federal interference. Other co-sponsors include Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA). The legislation would limit the federal government’s role in marijuana enforcement to cross-border or inter-state smuggling, allowing people to legally grow, use or sell marijuana in states where it is legal. The legislation is the first bill ever introduced to Congress to end federal marijuana prohibition.

I’m just going to go ahead and inject my opinion in here and say that this is some seriously awesome news. The War on Drugs has accomplished a great deal in the last 40 years. It has created and enforced immense conflict, it has solidified marijuana as a commodity in which people have killed and have been killed over, it has consumed massive amounts of federal resources and funds, and it has been the reason why such an astounding number of people have been arrested and incarcerated for growing, picking, selling, and obtaining marijuana to the point where we are running out of room in our jails and prisons. When we find ourselves in the position where we are overcrowding prisons that had been built to house thousands of people, we must eventually come to realize that something within the system must be changed.

If one thing must be made clear, it is that prohibition does not work. It didn’t work with alcohol and it has not worked with marijuana. While the wealthy and upper class will always have access to these things, it is the middle and lower class citizens who are forced into the prison systems, losing years of their lives to a government who refuses to accept that their legislation has failed.

When nearly any politician is asked about issues that are affected by federal mandates, they most often state that issues are best left to the states to decide. It is what we have seen throughout the past number of years with abortion and with gay marriage amendments. We have been seeing that same thing with marijuana legalization, most notably in California. Recently, Connecticut has become the 13th state to decriminalize marijuana and Washington state has been working hard towards achieving their own initiative. However, regardless of the marijuana laws in these thirteen states, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) continues to arrest people under federal law, regardless of the laws mandated in the specific states where these “violations” are occurring.

Regardless of how you feel about marijuana legalization, we should all be able to agree that this legislation will give states the freedom needed to create their own initiatives and the opportunity for their citizens to decide what they want.

Photo by r0bz.

Holly Ord is the founder of Woman Tribune, a thought-provoking, in-depth, and entertaining blog with articles spanning a variety of different topics that all have one thing in common – they interest and affect women.

Since 2008, Woman Tribune has solidified itself as a reliable, honest, and practical outlet of lifestyle, entertainment, and news information. Woman Tribune is an inclusive space for women, regardless of their location or lifestyle, including women who are moms, pet parents, single ladies, fashionistas, tech-savvy, entertainment buffs, concerned citizens of the world, and much more.