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The Justice Department\u2019s characterization of medical marijuana patients as uniquely dangerous and unfit to possess firearms in its new response to a lawsuit<\/a> exposed an \u201cinsulting\u201d and antiquated perspective, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried told Marijuana Moment on Tuesday.<\/p>\n DOJ had been expected to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which Fried filed in April alongside patients who were denied firearms<\/a> because they use medical cannabis. But the content of the extensive memorandum attached to the department\u2019s motion, which was filed on Monday\u2019s court-imposed deadline, came as a surprise.<\/p>\n The Biden administration\u2019s Justice Department didn\u2019t just hold the line by denying the therapeutic benefits of marijuana, it also made the case that people who use cannabis would be too \u201cdangerous to trust\u201d to possess firearms. The memo\u2019s reefer madness-era rhetoric has dismayed advocates and amplified frustrations over the president\u2019s unfulfilled promises to enact modest cannabis reforms.<\/p>\n \u201cI find it very insulting,\u201d Fried said of the DOJ\u2019s response. \u201cYou\u2019re calling patients that have cancer that are using medical marijuana dangerous. You\u2019re telling veterans who are using medical marijuana [that they\u2019re] dangerous. I think that they missed the ball here\u2014and it\u2019s very disconcerting that this is the direction that they took.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s so many of us for years\u2014for decades\u2014who have been fighting against this stereotype of marijuana users,\u201d the commissioner, who is running in a Democratic gubernatorial primary for a chance to challenge incumbent Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in November, said. \u201cTo see the Department of Justice put it down in a 40-page memo defending their motion to dismiss is very disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t just DOJ\u2019s characterization of cannabis consumers that\u2019s faced criticism. In its attempt to justify the ongoing federal policy prohibiting people who use marijuana from purchasing guns, the department also cited questionable case law going back to the 17th century.<\/p>\n Discriminatory gun bans against groups like Native Americans, Catholics and panhandlers were among the \u201canalogous\u201d examples DOJ included in its memo to defend the present-day marijuana prohibition. The case law-based argument was specifically responsive to the plaintiffs\u2019s revised complaint<\/a> that accounted for a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on gun restrictions in New York.<\/p>\n That ruling generally creates a higher standard for policies that seek to impose restrictions on gun rights. Overall, the Court said that any such restrictions must be consistent with the historical context of the Second Amendment\u2019s original 1791 ratification.<\/p>\n DOJ, referencing the questionable bans from the past, argued in its new filing that \u201cthe historical tradition embodied by these laws continues today, with a majority of states \u2018restrict[ing] the right of habitual drug abusers or alcoholics to possess or carry firearms.\u201d<\/p>\n The memo goes on to say that cannabis \u201ccauses significant mental and physical impairments that make it dangerous for a person to possess firearm.\u201d<\/p>\n Fried said that DOJ\u2019s position \u201creally shows a disconnect between where we are in our country and where the laws are.\u201d<\/p>\n As attorneys for the plaintiffs prepare to reply to the motion to dismiss, advocates continue to put pressure on President Joe Biden to take meaningful executive action on cannabis reform, which the department explicitly recognized in its memo that he has the authority to do.<\/p>\n The commissioner said that it\u2019s unclear to what extent, if at all, the DOJ memo was reviewed by the White House. But in any case, she said that she hopes the lawsuit further encourages the president to act.<\/p>\n \u201cThis very clearly states that he has the power to do so,\u201d Fried said. \u201cHopefully he will see that his department is giving him, again, the authority to do so and laying that out. Hopefully he will take that authority and live up to the promises that he made to the people.\u201d<\/p>\n In a press release on Tuesday, the commissioner said<\/a> that she \u201cfiled this lawsuit to bring attention to how the federal government\u2019s inconsistent and illogical cannabis policies are creating not only confusion, but actual harm.\u201d<\/p>\n Disappointed that @TheJusticeDept<\/a> moved to dismiss our case, and that they would perpetuate such harmful and offensive prejudicial stereotypes that cannabis users are dangerous or mentally ill to do so. We MUST keep fighting for equitable legalization.<\/p>\n My full statement \u2014 Commissioner Nikki Fried (@NikkiFriedFL) August 9, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cUnfortunately, the issue raised in our lawsuit is just one of the many dilemmas posed that is affecting a massive number of Floridians and even more patients nationwide,\u201d she said. \u201cThough this particular pathway intended to move much-needed cannabis reform forward might be cut off, I will never stop looking for outside-the-box ways we can further this fight until we achieve full and equitable legalization.\u201d<\/p>\n DOJ\u2019s memo on its motion to dismiss also challenges Fried\u2019s standing in the lawsuit, contending that her role as the head of the state\u2019s Agriculture Department does not make her a representative of the state to the extent that she can claim injury. The filing said that the state attorney general would be a more appropriate official to that end.<\/p>\n Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) has made her opposition to marijuana legalization clear, though, and the commissioner said that she hasn\u2019t approached the other office for join the lawsuit.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s, unfortunately, preoccupied with suing the Biden administration on other issues,\u201d Fried said, referencing lawsuits that Moody has filed or joined that concern other hot-button subjects like immigration and COVID vaccine policies.<\/p>\n Asked whether she would pursue the cannabis patients\u2019 gun rights litigation against the administration if elected governor, Fried said she is \u201ccommitted to this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRegardless of where it sits in the commissioner\u2019s office and when I\u2019m elected governor, making sure that we sign on to the lawsuit to show more support, yes, we would absolutely do it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n For the time being, however, the current federal policy persists, making it so people are denied gun purchases if they\u2019re honest about their cannabis use while filling out a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) background check form\u2014regardless of state law.<\/p>\n As Fried previously told Marijuana Moment, the lawsuit at hand is not about expanding gun rights, per se. It\u2019s a matter of constitutionality that she and other key allies in the gun reform movement feel would bolster public safety<\/a> if the case ultimately goes in their favor.<\/p>\n Supporters of the lawsuit argue that the ATF requirement effectively creates an incentive for cannabis consumers to either lie on the form, buy a gun on the illicit market or simply forgo a constitutional right.<\/p>\n In 2020, ATF\u00a0issued an advisory specifically targeting Michigan<\/a>\u00a0that requires gun sellers to conduct federal background checks on all unlicensed gun buyers because it said the state\u2019s cannabis laws had enabled \u201chabitual marijuana users\u201d and other disqualified individuals to obtain firearms illegally.<\/p>\n Fried brought the lawsuit alongside two medical marijuana patients in the state, as well as Neill Franklin, a retired police officer and former executive director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) who has declined to use medical cannabis despite its therapeutic value for pain he experiences because of the potential gun rights ramifications.<\/p>\n Another component of the legal challenge is based on a unique interpretation of a congressional spending bill rider known as the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment, which prevents the Justice Department from using federal funds to interfere in the implementation of state medical cannabis programs.<\/p>\n By preventing people like Franklin from using medical marijuana without risking the loss of their right to buy firearms, the federal government is effectively violating that rider by blocking Florida from adding new patients to grow its program, according to the suit.<\/p>\n DOJ said in its new memo that Franklin doesn\u2019t have standing in the case because he hasn\u2019t faced any specific injury. It also said that the protections of the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment are limited, and it pointed out that it hasn\u2019t spent dollars to interfere in the implementation of Florida\u2019s medical cannabis program.<\/p>\n There have been previous efforts in Congress to specifically protect medical cannabis patients against losing their right to purchase and possess guns,\u00a0but those efforts have not been enacted<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in Florida, a new industry-led campaign filed a marijuana legalization initiative<\/a> on Monday that they hope will go before voters on the state\u2019s 2024 ballot.<\/p>\n Missouri Marijuana Legalization Initiative Will Appear On November Ballot, State Announces<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Florida Ag Commissioner Blasts \u2018Insulting\u2019 Biden DOJ Response To Medical Marijuana Patients\u2019 Gun Rights Lawsuit<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Justice Department\u2019s characterization of medical marijuana patients as uniquely dangerous and unfit to possess firearms in its new response to a lawsuit exposed an \u201cinsulting\u201d and antiquated perspective, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried told Marijuana Moment on Tuesday. DOJ had been expected to file a motion to dismiss theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":56452,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56451"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56453,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56451\/revisions\/56453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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https:\/\/t.co\/knxtbcYHjk<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/aYo0Wpb6P1<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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\nRead More: Florida Ag Commissioner Blasts \u2018Insulting\u2019 Biden DOJ Response To Medical Marijuana Patients\u2019 Gun Rights Lawsuit<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"