He admits it's a political longshot, but state Rep. Mark Cardenas, D-Phoenix hopes to convince colleagues this coming session to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

The move comes as the Marijuana Policy Project is proposing its own legalization plan for the 2016 ballot. Cardenas said the problem with voter-approved laws is there can be flaws. But the Arizona Constitution prohibits lawmakers from making changes except to "further the purpose" of the initiative, and only with a three-fourths vote of both the House and Senate. He said that makes it preferable for lawmakers to adopt the change themselves. Cardenas, who admitted smoking marijuana once, said he used to be opposed to legalization.

"And then I took a class at ASU called Drugs and Justice and realized that it's never bad to say that we were wrong. It's never bad to say that simply just trying to enforce, make things tougher, will go away. Because we see that everyone knows a friend that knows how to get marijuana," Cardenas said.

Cardenas will have to fight even to get a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee. Chairman Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, said he is adamantly opposed to legalizing the drug, even with the possibility that voters make take the issue out of legislators' hands. But Farnsworth may be more open to Cardenas' back-up plan: Make possession of an ounce or less a civil offense punishable by a $100 fine.

"The legislature is a place where we exchange ideas. And some ideas are good and some ideas are bad. So I'm willing to look at that," Farnsworth said.

But Farnsworth said he first wants to hear from police and prosecutors to see how such a change would affect their own anti-drug efforts.