Marijuana Policy Project

Bob Barr fleshed out more of his post-Republican persona this afternoon with an endorsement of a decision by the U.S. House last week to repeal an 11-year-old provision that had prohibited the District of Columbia from implementing a referendum that authorized the legalization of marijuana.

The kicker? Barr was the guy behind the ban.

Said the former Georgia congressman and ‘08 Libertarian candidate for president in a press release:

While I, in fact, sponsored the initial appropriations limitation in 1998, the years since then have witnessed such a dramatic increase in federal government power and an unprecedented decrease in individual liberty, especially since 2001, that I have come to realize that such limitations as the so-called “Barr Amendment” are not and cannot be justified.

It has become necessary to reevaluate the power of the federal government that I and others once were able or willing to justify, and do what we can to roll back the tide of government control.

I have applauded also the indications by Attorney General Eric Holder to begin easing federal efforts against individuals in states that have moved to decriminalize or legalize the use of marijuana, and the fresh approach to the federal anti-drug effort as articulated earlier this year by Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy — the so-called "Drug Czar."