Pot supposedly makes people lazy. But Congress doesn't need any help. No other governmental body has been as slow to act on changing drug laws than our national legislators. It's time for our representatives to finally get off their derrieres and get to work.

The detente between states and the federal government over the treatment of medical and recreational marijuana turned back into a hot war last week. Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III rescinded an Obama-era memo instructing the Department of Justice not to interfere with state-level regulations. Business owners and local law enforcement are left unsure about their paths forward.

This ongoing conflict is a waste of time and resources and frankly is unsustainable in a representative republic.

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A majority of Americans over 18 have tried marijuana at some point in their lives, according to a 2017 Marist poll. Nearly half of those who tried it once still indulge today.

Sessions last week said that federal tolerance for marijuana undermines "rule of law," but something is clearly wrong with a legal regime that would drag half of our nation before a criminal judge.

Police and prosecutors enforce these laws under the pretense of keeping people safe from themselves. Whatever dangers marijuana poses - and the drug does inflict a litany of harms - the threat of a trip through our criminal justice system poses a far greater threat to one's life and livelihood.

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The criminal justice system is ill equipped to handle drug use, and most Americans know that it is time, after 40 years, to end the war on drugs.

Seven in 10 Americans think that the federal government should allow states to set their own rules for marijuana use, according to a 2017 CBS poll. More than 60 percent of the nation thinks that marijuana should simply be legalized. Here in Texas, a poll by the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune last year found that only 17 percent of the state supports continued prohibition on marijuana.

At a time of startling political division, you'd be hard pressed to find any issue that unites the nation like the push to change our drug laws. You've got to wonder what inspires Congress to act if it can't follow through on something this popular.

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The fight between federal agencies and state lawmakers has gone on for too long. Too many people have ended up in jail. Too many public dollars have been wasted on a war on drugs that's failed to reduce drug use.

Congress needs to do its job and change the law. If the current members don't have what it takes, then voters should find new representatives.