Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried is relying on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to support arguments in a challenge to federal regulations that make it illegal for medical-marijuana patients to buy guns.
Fried, a Democrat who is running for governor, has long championed medical marijuana, which Florida voters broadly legalized in 2016. Her office also issues concealed-weapons licenses.
In April, Fried filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice that challenges a federal law and regulations she alleged 鈥渇orbid Floridians from possessing or purchasing a firearm on the sole basis that they are state-law-abiding medical marijuana patients.鈥�
Fried鈥檚 lawyers on Friday filed an amended complaint focusing heavily on a Supreme Court ruling that struck down a New York law that placed strict limits on carrying concealed weapons in public. Gun-control advocates have expressed concerns the decision could severely restrict states鈥� ability to regulate guns.
The court鈥檚 June 23 ruling said, in part, that state gun laws have to be in keeping with the country鈥檚 鈥渉istorical tradition鈥� of firearm regulations.
鈥淥nly if a firearm regulation is consistent with this nation鈥檚 historical tradition may a court conclude that the individual鈥檚 conduct falls outside the Second Amendment鈥檚 鈥榰nqualified command,鈥欌�� the opinion authored by Justice Clarence Thomas said.
Fried鈥檚 lawsuit includes plaintiffs who are medical marijuana patients and want to have guns, as well as a plaintiff who is a gun owner and wants to participate in the state鈥檚 medical-cannabis program. It contends that the restrictions are unconstitutional.
鈥淭he defendants can offer no rational explanation for why federal law would expressly protect programs that essentially turn otherwise law-abiding citizens into criminals with no self-control,鈥� the lawsuit said. 鈥淪uch a contradictory position would fall far outside of any comparable, historical regulation in this area.鈥�
The lawsuit centers, in part, on a federal form that must be completed by people seeking to purchase guns.
鈥淎re 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 medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside,鈥� the form says.
Fried鈥檚 attorneys argued that prohibiting people who use medical marijuana from buying or having guns is a relatively recent development in the U.S.
鈥淨uite simply, there is no historical tradition of denying individuals their Second Amendment rights based solely (or even partially) on the use of marijuana,鈥� the lawsuit said. 鈥淚n fact, historical evidence shows that marijuana was considered a legitimate and legal form of medicine in England, America, and other western countries through the mid-Nineteenth and early-Twentieth Centuries.鈥�
According to the complaint, evidence shows that medical marijuana was used 鈥渁s early as 5,000 years ago, and it reached its 鈥渕edical 鈥榟eyday鈥� in the west between 1840 and 1900.鈥�
Doctors began prescribing marijuana around 1842, but it was outlawed in 1941.
鈥淣one of the federal case law relating to whether marijuana users may be stripped of their Second Amendment rights applies to the historical analysis that Bruen (the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 ruling in the New York case) requires,鈥� the plaintiffs argued.
Fried鈥檚 lawsuit also pointed to a federal law, known as the Rohrbacher-Farr Amendment, that bars Justice Department officials from using any of the agency鈥檚 funds to prevent states with medical-marijuana programs 鈥渇rom implementing state laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana.鈥�
Previous court decisions have found that the law prohibits federal officials from spending money to prosecute people who engage in conduct permitted by state medical-marijuana laws, Fried鈥檚 lawyers wrote.
The lawsuit accuses the Biden administration of defying the law.
鈥淭he defendants鈥� enforcement of the challenged sections and challenged regulations against medical marijuana patients who comply with state law punishes them for what is legally permitted and protected conduct,鈥� the complaint argued.
In a motion filed the day the New York gun ruling was issued, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland鈥檚 lawyers said the Biden administration intended to file a motion to have the Florida lawsuit dismissed. The June 23 motion also asked for more time to respond to the legal challenge 鈥渟o that defendants can review Bruen, analyze its relevance to this case, and apply Bruen in its forthcoming motion to dismiss.鈥�
Will Hall, an attorney with the Dean, Mead & Dunbar firm who represents the plaintiffs, told The News Service of Florida that the Supreme Court ruling puts the onus on Garland鈥檚 office to justify the gun restriction.
鈥淥ur reading of the case is the federal government has to show that this regulation, which is basically treating medical marijuana patients as if they are just, per se, too violent to possess guns, has some kind of historical tradition, and we just don鈥檛 see it,鈥� Hall said Tuesday.
Hall said Fried鈥檚 legal team scoured the issue to see if there was 鈥渁ny equivalent regulation鈥� in the distant past.
鈥淲e just can鈥檛 find it,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 really no equivalent for what we have in medical marijuana now, which is that the states have made it legal and the federal government has, not just through a letter or some promise but through law, said we will protect those programs from interference.鈥�
Fried, a lawyer who is Florida鈥檚 lone statewide elected Democrat, is a 鈥渉uge advocate鈥� for 鈥渞easonable gun laws that make people safer,鈥� Hall noted.
鈥淗er view is that this regulation just doesn鈥檛 make anyone more safe. If anything, it makes people less safe because it pushes them towards, if you鈥檙e a medical marijuana patient who wants to buy a gun, pushes you to a private sale versus a gun store where you actually follow the ATF protocols,鈥� he said, referring to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Copyright 2022 Health News Florida.
