Florida—Should Cannabis Users Carry? DOJ Says “NO!”
by Amy Wilding-Fox
FLORIDA, — There has long been a debate since the legalization of medical (and recreational) cannabis, now reaching nearly 75 percent of the country, on whether those with medical prescriptions for marijuana should legally be able to carry a firearm.
The state of Florida’s agriculture commissioner, Nikki Fried, is among the latest to ask this question. Taking on the advocacy role for those prescribed marijuana by a physician, she argues that denying legally prescribed cannabis users the right to bear arms goes directly against their Second Amendment right to do so.
In her quest to change such policies, Commissioner Fried is suing the Biden Administration’s Department of Justice, trying to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In response to the motion, the DOJ has asked that the case be dismissed, citing centuries-old rhetoric in its defense. Some defense arguments include that the scheduling of cannabis at the federal level finds there is no current acceptable reason to consume cannabis medically. Citing laws like the 1771 New York law prohibiting people from shooting guns on New Year’s because they were traditionally intoxicated on liquor, DOJ lawyers went on to claim that drug users, even marijuana users, are mentally ill and cannot be trusted. They also argued that because marijuana is still illegal, it poses a greater threat than alcohol consumption, and marijuana users “have difficulty exercising self-control, making them dangerous to possess firearms.”
Fried and plaintiffs responded with the argument that when the ratification of the Second Amendment was created, marijuana was indeed legally prescribed at the time, so it was deemed medicinal prior to the prohibition laws. They also claimed that denying such citizens the legal avenue to purchase firearms incentivizes them to either lie on applications, buy guns on the black market, or simply forgo their right entirely.
While this case is ongoing, there have been previous efforts to reschedule marijuana at the federal level, but to no avail. Congress has also tried to pass protections for medical patients in the past, yet nothing has ever been enacted. The Marijuana Report will keep an eye on this as news unfolds.
View this article on our website.
