Marijuana Policy Project

WASHINGTON As a Republican, former Georgia congressman Bob Barr spent years fighting efforts to soften the nation's drug laws, including blocking a 1998 referendum in which nearly 70 percent of Washington, D.C., voters approved medical marijuana use.

Now, as a Libertarian and a lobbyist, he's changing sides.

Earlier this month, Barr signed on as a lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project, where his duties will include pushing for repeal of his own "Barr amendment," which enraged medical-marijuana supporters as a gratuitous federal intrusion into local affairs in the nation's capital.

According to the group's director of government relations, Aaron Houston, Barr also will be working to persuade his former colleagues to adopt broader medical-marijuana legislation and to get the federal government to stop airing what critics say are misleading and ineffective anti-drug ads that link dope-smoking to terrorism and violence.

"We're working together pretty closely right now," Houston said. "He brings a great deal of credibility and a lot of gravitas to the cause ... We hope he serves as an example to some of his former colleagues, particularly on the GOP side of the aisle."

A spokeswoman for Barr said he was not available for comment Friday.

Barr, a former federal prosecutor, served eight years as a Republican congressman representing an Atlanta-area district before losing his seat after redistricting in 2002.

He became well known for his persistent attacks on President Clinton in the 1990s. He was among the first to press for impeaching Clinton and later was involved in a failed effort to build a "Counter Clinton Library" in Little Rock.

Late last year, he announced he was leaving the GOP and joining the Libertarian Party, which generally advocates smaller government, including on social issues such as drug policy. At the time, he said he had become disillusioned with the post-Sept. 11 erosion of civil liberty protections and with Republicans' failure to cut government spending even as they controlled the White House and Congress.

According to its Web site, the Marijuana Policy Project's mission is to eliminate criminal penalties for marijuana use. The group, which Friday advertised a fundraising party at the Playboy Mansion on its Web site, had pushed for legalizing marijuana use for people with serious illnesses.