A Republican congressman filed a bill on Thursday’s 4/20 cannabis holiday to protect the Second Amendment rights of people who use marijuana in legal states, allowing them to purchase and possess firearms that they’re currently prohibited from having under federal law.
Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, reintroduced the Gun Rights and Marijuana (GRAM) Act on Thursday—one of the latest in a series of cannabis proposals to be filed in the run-up to the 4/20 holiday.
The bill—which was previously led by the late Rep. Don Young (R-AK), who Mast replaced as a Cannabis Caucus leader—would amend federal statute to make it so marijuana consumers would not be considered an “unlawful user” of a controlled substance if they reside in a state that legalized cannabis.
As it stands, people who admit to being an “unlawful user” of marijuana are barred from buying, possessing or selling firearms—a federal policy that’s recently been challenged in several federal courts and deemed unconstitutional by at least two.
“No one should be forced to choose between their rights: you have a right to bear arms, and in many states, you have a right to use cannabis,” Mast said in a press release. “Congress needs to legislate based on reality, and the reality is that those who legally use marijuana are being treated as second-class citizens. That’s not acceptable. Government exists to protect the rights of the people, and that’s what this bill does.”
To read more, click on Marijuana Moment