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Republican House lawmakers have filed the first piece of marijuana reform legislation for the 118th Congress, proposing to allow medical cannabis patients to purchase and possess firearms.<\/p>\n
Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV) introduced the bill, which appears to be the same as a measure originally filed in 2019 that did not advance. It\u2019s being cosponsored by Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), who is a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) .<\/p>\n
While the full text isn\u2019t yet available, the bill shares the short title of the \u201cSecond Amendment Protection Act\u201d that Mooney filed<\/a> in the 116th Congress. It\u2019s unclear if it\u2019s been amended from that version.<\/p>\n But as the title explains, the measure<\/a> seeks to amend federal statute as it concerns the \u201csale, purchase, shipment, receipt, or possession of a firearm or ammunition by a user of medical marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n As it stands, people who use cannabis\u2014even as a patient in compliance with state law\u2014are barred from purchasing or possessing guns because they\u2019re considered \u201can unlawful user of or addicted to\u201d a federally controlled substance.<\/p>\n The earlier version of the bill said that people who use illegal controlled substances still wouldn\u2019t be able to obtain a firearm\u2014\u201cexcept that an individual shall not be treated as an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance based on the individual using marihuana for a medical purpose in accordance with state law.\u201d<\/p>\n To enforce the current prohibition, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) includes the following question on a\u00a0form<\/a>\u00a0that must be filled out prior to most gun purchases:<\/p>\n \u201cAre you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance? Warning: the use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medical or recreational purposes in the state where you reside.\u201d<\/p>\n Massie spoke to Marijuana Moment about the need for gun-focused cannabis reform<\/a> in 2019, previewing plans to back legislation to end the existing policy for patients.<\/p>\n The prohibition has been widely criticized on a bipartisan basis, with advocates, lawmakers and state officials arguing that the ban unduly discriminates against marijuana patients and forces them to either forfeit a constitutional right or obtain firearms through other, potentially illegal channels.<\/p>\n \u2014 Another bill that was filed last Congress by the late Rep. Don Young (R-AK), who Mast replaced as a GOP co-chair of the Cannabis Caucus, would have protected the Second Amendment right of any lawful marijuana consumer<\/a> and not just patients.<\/p>\n The Gun Rights and Marijuana (GRAM) Act would have added a short provision to federal law specifying that \u201cthe term \u2018unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance\u2019 shall not include a person by reason of unlawful use or addiction to marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n The exemption would have applied only to people who live in a state or tribal jurisdiction that permits the use of marijuana by adults, and only if they do not violate the local cannabis laws laws.<\/p>\n There was discussion of including the reform as part of a package of incremental marijuana reforms<\/a> know as \u201cSAFE Plus\u201d that bipartisan and bicameral lawmakers had hoped to advance during the lame duck session last year. But that didn\u2019t materialize.<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s then-agriculture commissioner Nikki Fried led an effort to sue the federal government in hopes to securing firearms rights for medical cannabis patients, but a district court judge dismissed it in November<\/a> after months of back-and-forth. Fried has since appealed the decision<\/a>.<\/p>\n As Fried previously told Marijuana Moment, the lawsuit wasn\u2019t about expanding gun rights, per se. It was a matter of constitutionality that she and other key allies in the gun reform movement feel would bolster public safety<\/a>\u00a0if the case ultimately goes in their favor.<\/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 Virginia Lawmakers Consider Updating Marijuana And Hemp Product Laws In 2023 Session<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post First Marijuana Bill Of The New Congress Is A GOP-Led Gun Rights Measure<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Republican House lawmakers have filed the first piece of marijuana reform legislation for the 118th Congress, proposing to allow medical cannabis patients to purchase and possess firearms. Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV) introduced the bill, which appears to be the same as a measure originally filed in 2019 that did notContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":60751,"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\/60750"}],"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=60750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60752,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60750\/revisions\/60752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: First Marijuana Bill Of The New Congress Is A GOP-Led Gun Rights Measure<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"