WASHINGTON – “Times have changed,” Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa, said of public views about marijuana consumption, referring to new polling data and various successful legalization drives around the country.

He believes these new attitudes and actions will translate into momentum for a bill he introduced in April that would bar the federal government from interfering with state laws regarding marijuana. Federal laws ban use of marijuana and are increasingly in conflict with state laws.

It’s a fast-moving and still contentious public policy issue. A recent Gallup poll shows for the first time that 58 percent of Americans favor legalizing marijuana. Two states last year, Washington and Colorado, legalized its use for recreational purposes.

In California, one group is gathering signatures to put a marijuana legalization initiative on the November 2014 ballot. In Orange County, Santa Ana is the one remaining city that allows medical marijuana dispensaries. Other cities have forced dispensaries to shutter their doors.

Rohrabacher’s bill, called “Respect State Marijuana Laws Act of 2013,” would remove the dark cloud of the federal government’s Controlled Substances Act that criminalizes marijuana use and production.

Rohrabacher spoke with the Register this week to explain the status of his bill, which has 20 co-sponsors, including Reps. Janice Hahn, D-San Pedro, and Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, and its prospects.

Q. Do you see a growing consensus toward legalizing marijuana?

A. I think the public is a lot less likely to be supportive of having government involvement controlling personal behavior in the consumption of weed. I’m sure it now dawns on people that if we put money into stopping somebody’s personal behavior or from having somebody supply them with marijuana, that this is money taken away from the effort to track down murderers and rapists, criminals and terrorists. So it has dawned on people that they’re actually putting others in jeopardy by trying to control somebody’s personal behavior.

Q. What are the unintended consequences of current marijuana laws?

A. There are drastic unintended consequences of the criminalization of marijuana. One of the unintended consequences is the strengthening and buildup of the organized crime network that crosses borders and it is especially strong in Mexico and spilling over into the United States.

Q. Has there been any movement on your bill?

It’s going to take a lot of work, but the people are on our side.

Contact the writer: 202-383-6029 or dhood@ocregister.com