U.S. Reps. Ron Paul, R-Texas, and Barney Frank, D-Mass., introduced a bill Thursday that would remove marijuana from the list of federally controlled substances, effectively ending a major aspect of the Drug War on the federal level.

While the legislation is unlikely to so much as make it out of committee, the move draws much-needed attention to our failed drug policy.

The federal government spends $26 billion a year on the war on drugs, according to the White House’s website. That is a high price tag for a policy that three in four Americans polled in 2008 thought had failed, according to a zogby poll.

The U.S. has traditionally focused on law enforcement rather than treatment. Critics of this policy have pointed out this restricts supply while leaving demand untouched, resulting in huge profits for drug dealers and traffickers. These profits support organized crime, making our policies incredibly counterproductive.

The real cost of the U.S.’s failed policies is not found here, however, but across our southern border. In 2010 alone, more than 15,000 people were killed in Mexico’s war on drugs, often with weapons smuggled over from the U.S.

The benefits organized crime received from our attempted crackdown on drugs should have been predictable. Anyone who took history up to the high school level knows the Prohibition was a boon for organized crime back then.

Not only have our policies given great profits to drug cartels, they also have tended to stigmatize drug users in such a way that they are less likely to seek treatment. Treatment is, by the way, estimated to be 23 times more cost effective per dollar than enforcement at reducing drug use, according to a study commisioned by former president Bill Clinton in the 1990’s.

Paul and Frank are not the first this month to draw attention to the U.S.’s failed drug policy. At the beginning of the month, the Global Commission on Drug Policy concluded the global war on drugs is “an abject disaster,” and decided decriminalization and treatment are the best ways forward, according to the commission’s report. The commission was comprised of a 19-person panel, including four former presidents from Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and Switzerland; former Secretary General Kofi Annan; former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker.

Paul and Frank’s bill is a shrewd move. By making marijuana regulation an issue for the states rather than simply decriminalizing it, the senators are taking advantage of a certain level of hypocrisy in many conservative politicians. Many of the most ardent supporters of the drug war also have declared their intent to reduce the size of the federal government. This bill, if it ever makes it out of committee, will give them an opportunity to prove that.

The drug policies of the U.S. are ineffective, expensive and fund gangs and cartels who kill hundreds in our inner cities and thousands in Mexico each year. We commend Ron Paul and Barney Frank’s attempts to end this senseless drug war.