A Federal Court dismissed Nikki Fried’s Second Amendment lawsuit against the federal government seeking to allow medical marijuana patients to buy and own firearms.
US District Judge Allen Winsor wrote in the Friday ruling that “Florida’s medical marijuana users are ‘unlawful user[s] of . . . [a] controlled substance,’ so this law makes it a crime for them to possess firearms.”
Fried is Florida’s agriculture and consumer services commissioner.
Background
Fried announced the litigation at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Miami Beach on the 4/20 cannabis holiday.
The lawsuit argues that there is a conflict between state and federal law and that federal policy requires medical marijuana (MMJ) cardholders to choose between their state constitutional right to MMJ and their Second Amendment right.
“No patient should have to choose between medicine and employment, a roof over their head, access to capital or their Constitutional rights,” Fried said adding that the country’s marijuana policies are “irrational, inconsistent, and incoherent.”
Fried, a medical marijuana cardholder and gun owner, explained that MMJ patients face felony charges if they lie about their marijuana use on a federal firearm application.
In July, Fried’s lawyers and other plaintiffs argued that under the recent SCOTUS ruling, the current federal policy banning those who admit to using marijuana in a background check could not be enforced.
In August, the DOJ…
