Federal lawsuit: “Give medical cannabis patients their gun rights in the US”
Millions of medical cannabis patients facing federal gun control discrimination gained a new ally on April 20th.
On Wednesday, Florida’s top Democrat-elect, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, sued the Biden administration to assert medical marijuana patients’ gun rights.
“Medical marijuana is legal. Guns are legal. This is about people’s rights and their freedom to have both responsibly,” Fried said.
In 2018, Florida voters elected Fried to the only state position held by a Democrat. She ran as a pro-cannabis candidate. In her role as Agriculture Commissioner, her office oversees covert shipment permits and regulates portions of the medical marijuana program.
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There are 2.5 million concealed gun license holders in Florida, according to Fried’s office. And as of April 15, the Florida Bureau of Medical Marijuana reported 707,933 active medical marijuana users.
Even more gun owners of medical cannabis patients in the US are running afoul of federal laws prohibiting controlled substance users from owning guns. Marijuana is a Schedule 1 federally illegal drug that is legal in 18 states. More than 35 states have some applicable medical cannabis laws.
In a news conference Wednesday, Fried said patients across the country could be charged with lying about a federal concealed gun license application.
Fried’s lawsuit targets a federal form you must fill out to purchase a concealed weapon from a licensed dealer. Question 21(e) on the form reads, “Are you an illegal user or dependent on marijuana or other tranquilizers, stimulants, narcotics, or other controlled substances?” The question also includes a warning, reminding applicants that use and Possession of marijuana is still illegal federally, regardless of its legalized, medicinal, or adult use status from state to state.
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According to Fried’s lawsuit, the ordinance is unconstitutional and violates and imposes “an undue burden on the rights of the Second Amendment to the rights of state-abiding medical marijuana users in Florida.” The lawsuit also alleges that the rule violates the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment, which prohibits the Justice Department from using federal money to interfere with the implementation of state medical cannabis laws.
Fried’s attorneys call the ordinance “irrational, inconsistent and nonsensical” and say it prohibits it from “ensuring that Floridians receive the state rights that affect them.”
Three people appear on the complaint with Fried. Two medical marijuana patients: a former Army Reserve veteran and single mother of three; and a senior who runs a plumbing business. The third is a retired police officer who refuses to choose between Florida’s medical marijuana program and his Second Amendment rights.
In a press conference at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Miami, Fried said she has both a medical marijuana license and a concealed carry license. Fried said Florida state law protects patients who own guns. The lawsuit addresses state law and how it compels eligible patients to choose between “accessing their state constitutional rights to medicinal cannabis or their state Second Amendment constitutional rights.”
Fried is also a 2022 Gun Sense nominee from Moms Demand Action — a non-partisan grassroots movement to reduce gun violence. A Gun Sense candidate promises to “govern for gun safety” by championing “safer communities and better gun laws.”
Ultimately, Fried positions herself as Florida’s most progressive gubernatorial candidate. Before April 20 ended, she tweeted a photo of herself holding a marijuana leaf in a growhouse with the caption, “As governor, I will legalize weed.”
As governor, I will legalize weed. pic.twitter.com/r3NsgAgdZ5
— Nikki Fried (@NikkiFried) April 20, 2022
If only their opponents could be so blunt.
Lyneisha Watson
Lyneisha Watson is a Florida-based journalist who has covered cannabis for HighTimes, Miss Grass, The Emerald Magazine and Farmer and the Felon. Her writing has also appeared in the Columbia Journalism Review, Blavity and Black Girl in Om.
Check out Lyneisha Watson’s articles
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