House gets medical pot legalization bill

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- A bill introduced in the U.S. House would allow states to legalize medical marijuana to resolve federal policy confusion on the drug, the bill's sponsor said.

The legislation, submitted Monday by U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., would create a framework for the federal Food and Drug Administration to legalize medicinal marijuana eventually and would block the federal government from interfering in any of the 19 states where medical marijuana is legal, Politico reported.

Blumenauer said his legislation could be an antidote to the confusion surrounding federal marijuana policy.

"Frankly, the people in the federal hierarchy are in an impossible position," Blumenauer said at a news conference. "It gets the federal government and the Department of Justice out of this never-never land."

Blumenauer's bill isn't likely to pass, Politico said. However, Americans for Safe Access Policy Director Mike Liszewski said bills in Illinois, Maryland, New Hampshire and New York have a chance of becoming law this year.