Lawyers, Guns & Weed
Author: Robert L. Greenberg
Two particularly controversial topics in law are those around firearm
rights and cannabis. Since its decision in District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008,
the United States Supreme Court has taken a wider view of the Second
Amendment as an individual right under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Contemporaneously, the individual states have been legalizing and
decriminalizing cannabis possession and use, while the federal government
keeps cannabis—in the cannabinoid bearing form of marijuana—listed as a
schedule I controlled substance. This means that there is no legitimate use for
the plant under federal law.
Consequently, cannabis users—even if obeying their respective state
laws and not convicted of any felonies—are unable to exercise their Second
Amendment rights. This brings up two particularly interesting Constitutional
issues for cannabis users. Firstly, do cannabis users have the rights under the
Second Amendment to keep and bear arms? To date, courts have largely
upheld firearm bans for those using controlled substances illegally, and that
would include users of medical cannabis patients.