Florida’s Top Democrat Sues Biden Admin. Over Rule Banning Medical Cannabis Users From Buying Guns

The ranking Democrat in Florida is taking on her party’s — and the country’s — leader over weed and guns.

Nikki Fried, the state commissioner of agriculture and Democratic nominee for governor, “plans to sue the Biden administration Wednesday to try to block a federal rule banning medical marijuana users from buying guns or retain concealed carry permits,” according to NBC News. who received a copy of Fried’s lawsuit.

“I am suing the Biden administration for restricting people’s rights. Medical marijuana is legal. Guns are legal,” Fried said in a tweet Wednesday morning. “This is about people’s rights and their freedom to have both responsibly.”

(By the way, the announcement of Fried’s lawsuit against the Biden government on April 20 was no coincidence.)

NBC reported that the “lawsuit seeks a federal form asking if the gun buyer is an illegal drug user and specifying that marijuana is illegal under federal law.”

Prospects who tick “yes” will be turned away and those who lie “[run] the risk of a five-year prison sentence for making a false statement,” according to NBC News.

Fried’s lawsuit, which is currently the only Florida Democrat to hold statewide office, will have a major impact in her own jurisdiction, where medicinal cannabis has been legal since voters passed an initiative there in 2016 and where gun ownership is pervasive is.

But it could also set a precedent for dozens of other states where medicinal cannabis is legal.

Fried is a longtime advocate for cannabis reform. “I’ve always been pro-cannabis, but didn’t really understand the movement [early on]she said in an interview with High Times last year, saying her passion was sparked when she was a student at the University of Florida.

She won her race to be Commissioner of Agriculture in 2018 on a platform dedicated to changing Florida cannabis laws.

“We weren’t talking about legalization at the time, we still tried to get medical help, but they knew I was in favor of legalization when the time came for Florida,” Fried told the High Times.

Fried stepped up her push for legalization in her gubernatorial campaign she launched last year.

She is running for the Democratic nomination against Charlie Crist, a former Republican governor-turned-Democratic congressman. Both candidates have vowed to legalize adult-use cannabis if elected, but Fried pointed out Crist’s GOP past, saying in October that people have been incarcerated and that Crist and other Republicans “supported and enforced racist marijuana crime laws.” .

Fried and Crist are vying for a chance to take on Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential 2024 presidential nominee who has said recreational weed will not be legalized during his tenure.

“Not while I’m governor,” DeSantis said in 2019. “I mean, if that’s rolled out to teenagers and young people, I think it’s going to be really detrimental to their wellbeing and maturity.”

Polls show that both Democrats are keeping their distance from the incumbent.

“Ron DeSantis is motivated by money,” Fried told the High Times last year when explaining the governor’s opposition to cannabis reform. “I think his motivation is more his ability to raise money.”

As NBC News explained, the lawsuit is “laden with political opportunities for Fried, who in 2018 became the only Democrat elected nationally when she ran on an unabashedly pro-cannabis platform,” with polls repeatedly showing that a majority of Floridians – like the rest of the country – support the legalization of cannabis.

According to NBC, Fried “is bringing the lawsuit with three citizens affected by the federal regulations,” and the lawsuit “names acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Attorney General Merrick Garland as a defendant.” ”