Federal Appeals Court: Medical Cannabis Consumers Shouldn’t Lose Their 2nd Amendment Rights

Patients who possess medical cannabis in compliance with state laws are free to exercise their 2^nd Amendment rights to own a firearm, according to a ruling by judges on the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The decision, which is consistent with a recent ruling by the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals, finds that disarming citizens solely because they either posses or consume cannabis is not “consistent with this nation’s history and tradition of firearm regulation.”

District Court judges in Oklahoma and Texas have also recently issued similar opinions.

The case was brought by former Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (who now serves as a member of NORML’s Board of Directors) and several medical cannabis patients. Members of NORML’s Legal Committee — including attorneys David Holland, Nikki Fried, Greg Morse, and Joseph Bondy — filed an amicus brief in the case, opining, “Neither the Founders, Framers, nor elected leaders of the United States, all of whom had intimate knowledge of the role of cannabis cultivation and consumption in the colonies and new nation, took any legislative action to disarm cannabis consumers of the right to bear arms.”

Fried called the ruling “a huge win for freedom. No medical cannabis patient should have to choose between their rights to their medicine or their right to bear arms.”

Joseph A. Bondy, Chair of NORML’s Board of Directors, added: “This is a substantial win for patients and constitutional rights. This ruling makes plain what NORML has long argued: medical cannabis patients should not be treated as second-class citizens under the law.”

For decades, the US government has held a 1968 federal law prohibiting the possession or sale of a firearm to an “unlawful user” of a federally controlled substance should be applied broadly to criminalize gun owners with any history of marijuana use. The Trump administration has requested the US Supreme Court to weigh in on the issue.

NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano praised the 11th Circuit Court’s ruling. “Neither past nor current cannabis use should automatically preclude someone from legal protections explicitly provided by the US Constitution,” he said. “Either the Supreme Court or Congress need to ultimately resolve this issue so that responsible cannabis consumers are no longer threatened with federal prison terms simply for exercising their 2nd Amendment rights.”

The case is Cooper et al. v. Attorney General of the United States of America et al.