As more states increasingly legalize the recreational use of marijuana—24 states according to CBS News currently do—the move has put gun owners who like to toke and can legally do so according to their state’s permittance into a legal conundrum when purchasing a firearm: How to honestly answer question 21(f) on ATF Form 4473 without committing perjury and leave the store with their firearm? The answer is, they can’t.
The question asks, “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?” Upon that reading, many pot-smoking gun owners who think they’ve watched enough courtroom movies to make them an armchair lawyer would think the “unlawful” terminology gives them a loophole.
“Hey man, I “legally” smoke it so I’m good,” some have argued.
Sorry to harsh your mellow, but that argument will only land you in legal jeopardy since smoking marijuana is still banned under federal law and that is all the ATF cares about on the Firearms Transaction Record Form 4473. In fact, to avoid this confusion for people completing the form, the ATF added the following warning immediately below question 21(f) on January, 16, 2017, “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.”
In fact, as far back as 2011, the “ATF issued an Open Letter stating ‘any person who uses or is addicted to marijuana, regardless of whether his or her State has passed legislation authorizing marijuana use for medicinal purposes, is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, and is prohibited by Federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition,’” the Federalist Society reports. Note, it does not just bar you from buying a gun, it actually bans the possession of firearms and ammunition, meaning many firearms owners, like Hunter Biden, are technically already in violation of federal law and could be subject to fines and prison if the government ever wanted to come after them.
With the recent Supreme Court decision in United States v. Rahimi, in which the court upheld the right of the government to disarm persons who pose a threat to others (Texas resident Zackey Rahimi was subject to a domestic violence restraining order and under law, barred from possessing firearms), the DOJ has doubled down on what that ruling means for marijuana users in a separate case. In a recent court filing, the DOJ submitted a brief with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stating their position is “medical marijuana patients who possess firearms ‘endanger public safety,’ ‘pose a greater risk of suicide’ and are more likely to commit crimes ‘to fund their drug habit,’” according to Marijuana Moment. The website is basically a TTAG for pot smokers.
“This is the latest development in the two-year case, with a group of Florida medical cannabis patients arguing that their Second Amendment rights are being violated because they cannot lawfully buy firearms so long as they are using cannabis as medicine, despite acting in compliance with state law,” the Marijuana Momentreports.
So, the battle over guns and pot use has just heated up for those trying to see through the legal haze like two bums scrapping in an alley over a blunt of chronic. Here’s what you need to know:
Federal vs. State Laws on Marijuana and Gun Ownership
The crux of the issue lies in the conflict between state and federal laws. Despite the legalization of marijuana for recreational or medical use in states like Nevada and Florida, federal law still classifies marijuana as an illegal substance. According to The Nevada Independent, the DOJ argues that marijuana users pose a threat to public safety, claiming that their drug habits increase the likelihood of committing crimes to fund their addiction. This rationale is used to justify barring marijuana users from gun ownership, even though this argument mirrors outdated anti-drug rhetoric from decades past.
Recent Supreme Court Decisions and Their Impact
The U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings have played a pivotal role in shaping the legal landscape surrounding this issue. As noted in the case of United States v. Rahimi, the Supreme Court upheld a federal ban on gun possession by individuals under domestic violence restraining orders. The decision emphasized that the government has the authority to disarm individuals who pose a credible threat to others, as reported by News 6 Orlando. However, this ruling has broader implications, as it suggests that the government can restrict gun rights based on perceived threats, a principle that the DOJ extends to marijuana users.
In the wake of Rahimi, the Supreme Court vacated a decision by the Fifth Circuit in United States v. Daniels, which had ruled that the federal prohibition on gun ownership by marijuana users was unconstitutional. This move indicates the Court’s willingness to reconsider restrictions on gun possession by individuals who use federally illegal drugs, even if those substances are legal under state law. As noted, according to CBS News, 24 states currently allow for recreational use of typically small amounts of marijuana, while a medical use of marijuana is legal in an additional 13 states as well as all of the states where recreational use is permitted. Only 13 states align with federal law in the outright banning of any marijuana use and in four of those—Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina and Wyoming—marijuana as well as all cannabis products, such as CBD, is illegal.
Legal Challenges and Ongoing Debates
Marijuana users and advocates have not remained silent. In Florida, medical marijuana patients filed a lawsuit challenging federal restrictions that prevent them from owning firearms. The plaintiffs argue that these restrictions force them to choose between their state-sanctioned medical treatment and their Second Amendment rights. They contend that there is no historical precedent for disarming individuals who use intoxicating substances without evidence of violent behavior, as noted by Green Market Report.
Former Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who initially filed the lawsuit, emphasized that the federal prohibitions unfairly target law-abiding citizens who use marijuana for legitimate medical reasons. The case, now before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, has drawn attention to the broader issue of reconciling state and federal laws on marijuana use and gun rights.
Government’s Position and Public Safety Concerns
The DOJ maintains that disarming marijuana users is a necessary measure to ensure public safety. They argue that regular drug users are prone to misuse firearms due to drug-induced impairments in cognitive function and judgment. Moreover, they claim that drug users might commit crimes to sustain their habits, posing a danger to society. This argument, however, has been met with skepticism. Critics argue that such blanket assumptions about marijuana users are not only outdated but also lack substantial evidence. A number of pro-use groups have also filed briefs in the case, according to Green Market Report. At the same time, there are plenty of gun owners opposed to marijuana use as well, so even within the firearms community, there is some disagreement on the matter.
The Future of Gun Rights for Marijuana Users
As the legal battles continue, the outcome of these cases could have significant implications for gun rights and marijuana laws across the United States. Even as some states begin to step back from broader legalization or observe issues related to legalization, i.e., traffic deaths in Colorado related to marijuana-impairment have more than doubled, suicides in which the person had some cannaboid in their bloodstream have more than doubled in Colorado, marijuana-related hospitalizations have increased and some have suggested whether it has led to a higher homeless population in the Mile High state responses in a survey of inmates in 2018. Colorado has served as a sociological and legal test case in marijuana legalization as it was the first state to decriminalize marijuana for recreational use in 2012.
Since that time, the intersection of federal and state regulations has created a complex legal environment that requires careful navigation by lawmakers, courts and for right now, a percentage of gun owners.
Advocates for marijuana argue for a more nuanced approach that considers individual behavior and actual risk rather than broad categorizations based on drug use alone. Meanwhile, as the case in the Eleventh Circuit works its way through the system, pot smokers are holding their collective breaths like someone who just took a big bong hit and hoping a final resolution of this case will clear the haze in determining whether they can ever fully exercise their Second Amendment rights without fear of federal prosecution.
What’s a “user”?
Say you smoked 30 years ago in high school. Does that make you a “user”?
Maybe you smoked five years ago.
Five months ago.
Perhaps yet unbeknownst to you you will smoke three years from now.
What’s a “user”?
The last time I used the devil’s lettuce was some 40 years ago. I am not a user Toke. You wanna get high yer on your own. Never have a pot card either. Get yer herb the old fashion way🙄
“What’s a “user”?”
Use of a controlled substance, past, present, future. And anyone asking questions about it are likely users.
Now the question is: “What happens to DOJ when federal law permits anyone to partake of MJ, for what ever reason.” Do all those scientific reasons that justified regulation just somehow disappear, become safe?
Cannabis “users” should have equal rights and protections under our laws as the drinkers of far more dangerous, harmful to the human body and deadly, yet completely legal in every single state, alcohol “users” currently have. Cannabis is far safer than federally legal alcohol is!
That is of course in you opinion, as wrong as it is.
Marijuana is both addictive and dangerous. I suggest you go to the National Drug Abuse website. Education is a terrible thing to waste.
Hahahaha. In other words, instead of admitting the common sense fact that indeed cannabis is undoubtedly far safer than legal alcohol, we need to beehive your dumb reefer madness rhetoric.
Alcohol, caffeine and fast food are all much more “addictive and dangerous” than relatively benign cannabis and yes you can find the statistics that prove that even on your biased website you recommend that is published by the very same government organizations that have been lying to the public ever since our country first wrongfully criminalized cannabis use during the Anslinger and Nixon eras.
Your right about one thing though. “Education is a terrible thing to waste”. So I suggest you actually go research the true factual history of cannabis prohibition and research who first recommended we outlaw cannabis and exactly why. Before you again try to speak publicly on this issue. Also you should stop trying to pass off government sponsored anti-drug organizations websites anti-cannabis-propaganda as anything more credible than the original Reefer Madness film.
It would be my advise to end your efforts to educate the folks that infest this comment section. Most reasonable, educated people understand that cannabis, in most forms, is a safe recreational drug. Many of the boozers that come here to brag about their alleged accomplishments and gun collections are incapable of critical thinking. I believe many of them sit in their homes knocking back one alcoholic beverage after another, typing with two fingers, willfully ignoring the damage done by the Ronald Regan WAR ON DRUGS. I admire your persistence, but we have to wait for nature to run its course and reclaim these humans.
Ok, so, smoking pot is against federal law. That form 4473 and every other damn infringement on the right to keep and bear arms is against THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! But let us worry about not the law of the land and ignore the unconstitutional 900 lb gorilla.
^^^This right here^^^
The whole 4473/back ground check is an illegal government list of gun owners
“The whole 4473/back ground check is an illegal government list of gun owners”.
Only because a federal law (not a clause in the Constitution) to that effect exists. Changing “the law” is always possible.
Cannabis consumers should have equal rights as far more dangerous yet completely legal in every single state. alcohol drinkers currently have. Equal rights. Why treat far safer cannabis any different than perfectly legal everywhere, alcohol?
End of discussion for most rational people.
Mixing drugs, booze, ignorance or stupidity with Firearms is ALWAYS a Bad Idea.
Yes, but the issue isn’t about mixing them. It is about not losing rights because you use one of them separately from the others.
Law or no law if you want to be a dumbazz and hang around with another dumbazz who mixes firearms, vehicles, tools, etc. with mind altering garbage be my quest just don’t expect others to roll out the welcome mat for such stupidity.
“mind altering garbage”.
Lol
Your anti freedom bigotry looms large!
Your mourning coffee is “mild altering” too and statistically proven to be far more “addictive” than relatively benign cannabis is. Should we make coffee illegal too, Lil-Karen? Lol
When the discussion is cannabis, it’s “ALWAYS” a “bad idea” and a lame scapegoating attempt when you intentionally try to fear monger the general public by throwing cannabis under the umbrella as “all drugs, booze, ignorance or stupidity”. Instead of this deliberate scare tactic that the public sees through, try actually discussing relatively benign cannabis based strictly on it’s own merits. Without clumping every discussion on legal cannabis with all sorts of other deadly and dangerous street drugs and other things that typically the general public tends to fear (…and rightfully so) much more than relatively benign cannabis. Sound fair and reasonable? You would gain actual credibility of you head my advice and discuss cannabis without throwing in “all other drugs” and other non related things.
Yawn!
Colorado and Washington legalized recreational cannabis in 2012. The article was incorrect in stating Colorado was the first in 2014.
Thanks for the clarification Colt Magnum. I saw your comment and went back to my original source on that and it said 2014. I then checked several other sources and found you are technically right; it was voted on and approved in 2012, making it legal to use, but it didn’t actually go legally on sale until Jan. 1, 2014. Thus the confusion. Legalized and legal for sale are two different things so I’ll clarify that in the story. Thanks again.
The drug [email protected]@t.ion crowd are anti-civil rights. They have never ever supported the 2nd amendment. They have said if drugs were made legal. All the crime would go away. And the “black” drug dealers would have no need to carry guns.
They said pot should be made legal and taxed just like tobacco, “so the government could make more money.”
The pot heads are so.ciali.st prog.ressi.ve in their p0litic@l 0rien.tati0n. They are the enemies of liberty.
Because pot heads refuse to accept the consequences and responsibilities that go along with Liberty.
Name call and stereotype complete strangers this way often? You don’t personally morally approve of cannabis use? Then simply don’t use it instead of irrationally insisting on criminalizing everyone who does enjoy relatively benign cannabis. Your little “problem” has now been completely solved and resolved for you, your welcome!
So now, you can stop all the silly excuses, fear mongering and scare tactics to try to cover up your very own little personal irrational moral dilemma with allowing other Americans to legally choose for themselves if they would like to partake in relatively benign cannabis without fear of life long criminalization over it. Sound fair and reasonable? Cut the bs reefer madness talk because it makes you sound ignorant AF.
Why doesn’t Bruen trump the ATF/DOJ? Can they point to a historic analog to justify the rule?
The left is continuously lumping all into the same pot/lot. Seems the 4473 could to be modified to exempt those who use marijuana for medical reasons. Then if those using for medical reasons do something criminal, prosecute them according to the law. If they lie on the 4473, prosecute them for lying.
Also, if a person lives in a state that has legalized marijuana, those persons in those states could also be exempt, thus leaving enforcement issues to the states. In short, the feds have stuck their noses into too many places where they do not belong.
Just to be clear, I have never used any of the illegal drugs including marijuana. And I am not trying to solve any issues for any friends. It seems that exceptions can be written into anything and the same could easily be accomplished on the 4473.
I don’t think that this will be an issue faced head on. Rahimi was proof of that. The court will have to have the right people on it (as much as I hate to say that, maybe better put as not having the wrong people on it) and the right case will have to come by. My guess would be a red flag order where the poor bastard who got railroaded can prove that his spouse did it with malice to gain leverage in a divorce or similar. Until it’s clearly a person who’s been victimized by the system such infringements will continue as they have for a long time. After we get such a precedent about red flag orders things like the questions on 4473 will be under scrutiny.
There should be only one state/federal law regarding drugs, any drug: “All drug use is permitted, without restriction, unless the person using drugs harms humans or animals while using drugs. In such instances, once convicted, the individual will be sentenced to life in prison/jail, without possibility of parole. Once convicted, all body parts and organs will be placed on appropriate “donor” lists as a supply point for needed body part/organ transplant request”.
One of the top failures, if not the top failure, of all time in the US is the ‘War on Drugs’. It has cost us trillions of dollars. Increased the prison industry in the US. Increased the size and power of .gov alphabet agencies. Increased the police state.
And has gotten us 0, repeat 0, returns. Anybody still rooting for the war on drugs at this point is, at best, retarded.
At this point we would save money and effort if we just gave free drugs to those who wanted them.
Since it’s always been perfectly legal to be a drinker of far more dangerous and deadly alcohol and still own a firearm, the exact same thing needs to apply to being a cannabis consumer and owning a firearm, perfectly legal too.
Why does a very small lunatic fringe minority of Americans still desire to cling to cannabis prohibition and/or why do they want to hold relatively benign cannabis to any sort of irrational stricter double standard than far more dangerous and deadly, yet perfectly legal, widely accepted, endlessly advertised and even glorified as an All American pastime, alcohol?
Legalize federally now. What’s legal to possess and consume in over half of the populated areas of The United States should not make you a criminal in states still being governed by woefully ignorant prohibitionist politicians.
Cannabis consumers in all states deserve and demand equal rights and protections under our laws that are currently afforded to the drinkers of far more dangerous and deadly, yet perfectly legal, widely accepted, endlessly advertised and even glorified as an All-American pastime, alcohol.
Plain and simple!
Legalize Cannabis Nationwide Federally Now!
Fear of Cannabis Legalization Nationwide is unfounded. Not based on any science or fact whatsoever. So please prohibitionists, we beg you to give your scare tactics, “Conspiracy Theories” and “Doomsday Scenarios” over the inevitable Legalization of Cannabis Nationwide a rest. Nobody is buying them anymore these days. Okay?
Furthermore, if all prohibitionists get when they look into that nice, big and shiny crystal ball of theirs, while wondering about the future of cannabis legalization, is horror, doom, and despair, well then I suggest they return that thing as quickly as possible and reclaim the money they shelled out for it, since it’s obviously defective.
The prohibition of cannabis has not decreased the supply nor the demand for cannabis at all. Not one single iota, and it never will. Just a huge and complete waste of our tax dollars to continue criminalizing citizens for choosing a natural, non-toxic, relatively benign plant proven to be much safer than alcohol.
If prohibitionists are going to take it upon themselves to worry about “saving us all” from ourselves, then they need to start with the drug that causes more death and destruction than every other drug in the world COMBINED, which is alcohol!
Why do prohibitionists feel the continued need to vilify and demonize cannabis when they could more wisely focus their efforts on a real, proven killer, alcohol, which again causes more destruction, violence, and death than all other drugs, COMBINED?
Prohibitionists really should get their priorities straight and/or practice a little live and let live. They’ll live longer, happier, and healthier, with a lot less stress if they refrain from being bent on trying to control others through Draconian Cannabis Laws.
“Cannabis is 114 times safer than drinking alcohol”
“Cannabis may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say”
“Cannabis may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say New study: We should stop fighting Cannabis legalization and focus on alcohol and tobacco instead By Christopher Ingraham February 23
Compared with other recreational drugs — including alcohol — Cannabis may be even safer than previously thought. And researchers may be systematically underestimating risks associated with alcohol use.
Those are the top-line findings of recent research published in the journal Scientific Reports, a subsidiary of Nature. Researchers sought to quantify the risk of death associated with the use of a variety of commonly used substances. They found that at the level of individual use, alcohol was the deadliest substance, followed by heroin and cocaine.”
-Washington Post
“The report discovered that Cannabis is 114 times less deadly than alcohol. Researchers were able to determine this by comparing the lethal doses with the amount of typical use. Through this approach, Cannabis had the lowest mortality risk to users out of all the drugs they studied. In fact—because the numbers were crossed with typical daily use—Cannabis is the only drug that tested as “low risk.”
-Complex
“At this point we would save money and effort if we just gave free drugs to those who wanted them.”
We need users of illegal drugs. They are an invaluable potential source of donated body parts and organs.
You want body parts and organs harvested from a junkie?
That would be like me taking your liver. I want a pristine donor.
“That would be like me taking your liver. I want a pristine donor.”
Given the shortage of organs and parts (like arms, legs, hands, fingers, toes, etc) it seems that if faced with certain death, or possibility of prolonging one’s live potentially limited by “bad” organs and parts, a blanket rejection of longer life is not prudent.
Relatively benign cannabis is far safer than perfectly legal alcohol and therefore let’s not clump relatively benign cannabis is with the discussion of “all other drugs” in order to attempt to fear monger the public away from supporting federal cannabis legalization.
Instead let’s be reasonable, rational, intelligent adults and legalize relatively benign cannabis nationwide federally and give cannabis users the exact same rights and protections under our laws as the drinkers of far more deadly, harmful and dangerous, yet perfectly legal alcohol have. End of discussion!
—> Relatively benign cannabis is far safer than perfectly legal alcohol and therefore let’s not clump relatively benign cannabis is with the discussion of “all other drugs” in order to attempt to fear monger the public away from supporting federal cannabis legalization.
Instead let’s be reasonable, rational, intelligent adults and legalize relatively benign cannabis nationwide federally and give cannabis users the exact same rights and protections under our laws as the drinkers of far more deadly, harmful and dangerous, yet perfectly legal alcohol have. End of discussion!
EFF the a t f! Come and Take it!
Reefer Madness and Propaganda!
Have you actually met users of marijuana? I actually agree that marijuana users should not be in possession of firearms. Bad life choices should not include firearms. Just an opinion, your mileage may vary!
Try selling your bs to Bill Gates, Carl Sagan and Oprah Winfrey among countless other very successful people who have admitted to enjoying relatively benign cannabis. Anyone with a shred of common sense without an agenda would realize that someone who uses cannabis with a gun is way safer to be around than a drunk with a gun. Alcohol=violence, cannabis= non-violence, peace and relaxation.
Do you stereotype huge swaths of the American population that are complete strangers to you and you know absolutely nothing about personally this way often? Cannabis consumers should have equal rights and protections as alcohol drinkers. That includes the same gun ownership rights as alcohol drinkers have.
“Benign Cannabis”, No such thing. Marijuana use in adolescent teenage years has been proven to cause irrevocable brain damage. In many is a cause of schizophrenia in later 20’s and lifelong mental issues. You keep trying to equate alcohol use to violence, and I somewhat agree. Just admit you just want to smoke dope and be a junkie, This term applies to marijuana users as it does to meth and heroin addicts. Pot users are involved in violence affecting innocent others by driving while high and other irrational decision making, like child neglect. I know from first hand experience in dealing with these issues as being retired from 30 years L.E. and serving 7 years of that in a drug task force. Saw these problems with marijuana users daily.
Your reefer madness convinces nobody. Normal, intelligent Americans nationwide in every single state laugh at your reefer madness talk. It’s looked upon as pure comedy. Now will you please provide us your impartial, unbiased credible sources of proof? That means of course no government, law enforcement nor anti-drug organization sponsored sources because we all know those are not impartial, unbiased nor credible sources. We’ll wait….*crickets churping*
Oh yeah I almost forgot: Only irrational, ignorant ancient prohibitionist dinosaurs refer to relatively benign cannabis as “dope”. So by calling cannabis that, you only make it that much easier for everyone else to see your ignorance, your obvious anger, and your obvious irrational resentment towards both cannabis and it’s consumers. Go ahead and go ask your local dope dealer for some “dope” and slip him a fifty dollar bill. What he hands you in return definitely won’t be green and it definitely won’t be relatively benign cannabis, guaranteed buddy! If you had any common sense you would refer to far more deadly and dangerous yet perfectly legal alcohol as “dope”. Because it makes people do the dumbest things, often become violent and then black out and not even remember all the havoc caused by their perfectly legal alcohol drinking.
Any negative ideas/consequences you can fabricate in your small mind about relatively benign cannabis are amplified a thousand times worse with completely legal in every single state, alcohol. Can’t you see and understand that? Try it, each negative thing you claimed about relatively benign cannabis, try replacing with the term “alcohol” and see how much more fitting it truly is.
It doesn’t take the intellect of a genius for us normal, intelligent, rational Americans to see right through your reefer-madness-talk and understand for ourselves that there is no rational way to deny that alcohol is indeed WAY more dangerous, harmful and deadly than relatively benign cannabis is. (Yes, indeed I stated “relatively benign” when compared to alcohol..) Just research the numbers of traffic fatalities, violent crimes. accidents and deaths directly and solely caused by drinking alcohol alone, each and every single year. Then go research the same yearly numbers proven to have been caused solely and directly by consuming relatively benign cannabis, alone by itself. It’s not even close! In fact there has never ever been even one single death in all documented human history where cannabis use alone was documented as the direct and sole cause of death. Not a single death ever where the coroner declared cannabis use as the direct/sole/primary cause of death. You can’t say the same about completely legal nationwide, alcohol, now can you? Anyone who refuses to accept that indeed cannabis is relatively benign and far less harmful to the human body, far less dangerous and far less deadly than totally legal alcohol has an obvious anti-cannabis agenda and is being completely irrational, unreasonable and completely ignorant about it.
Since when do some Federal laws become optional if some people or even states dislike them. Do freedom loving states get to nullify Federal laws regarding suppressors?
It’s a binary choice: we either have the rule of law, or we don’t.
Over five decades ago my wife (to be) and I went to a midnight showing of “Reefer Madness” in, at that time, the small Southern town where we lived. The theater was HEAVY with smoke. As I went to purchase some Raisenettes and Goobers at the concession stand I overheard two police officers, who were also purchasing munchies (I presume they had been in the theater) exclaim to each other that this crowd was waaaaaayyyyyyy better than a buncha drunks. So, there’s that.
Another point to use cash on private buys and make ghostguns but thats for free states ………
Treat relatively benign cannabis EXACTLY like we currently treat FAR more dangerous and deadly yet perfectly legal alcohol! LEGAL IN ALL STATES! Why hold relatively benign cannabis to ANY sort of irrational stricter double standard than perfectly legal alcohol? Legalize federally NOW!
Prohibition and stinky reefer madness are only desperately pushed and irrationally believed by a very small, lunatic fringe minority of nutty prohibitionists. The rest of us sane, intelligent, normal Americans are not convinced at all by their desperate and quite comical reefer madness rhetoric. Instead, us normal Americans just laugh our butts off at and mock utterly desperate prohibitionists and their rediculious reefer madness rhetoric as the comedy show they truly are!
In all 50 states the drug le.g@[email protected] crow.d are in the leadership of working to pass gun control. Don’t trust them.
Sure buddy. You want us all to be scared, very very scared of relatively benign cannabis legalization and nobody ever was enjoying cannabis before any state legalized it, right? Lol so dumb, it’s hilarious. Don’t forget to throw relatively benign cannabis under the bus with “a;; other drugs” in your obviously desperate fear mongering attempt here like a good little ignorant, irrational prohibitionist sheep. Haha!
Another “brilliant” prohibitionist “Conspiracy Theory” for us to laugh at while we munch some popcorn and enjoy a bowl of the kind, relatively benign herb! Lmao
Sure buddy! Lol You really, really really want us to be very, very, very scared of the legalization of relatively benign cannabis, don’t you? And nobody was ever using cannabis before sates legalized it, right buddy? Not only that, but you obviously haven’t forgotten to throw relatively benign cannabis under the umbrella term of “all drugs” to try to scare the public even more as you pass off your not-so-brilliant looney-tune prohibitionist “Conspiracy Theory” on the general public.. Lmao Carry on now….lol
Addicted to marijuana?
So stupid, isn’t it? lol Ridiculous reefer madness talk. Far more Americans are “addicted” to fast food and sugar and those are proven to actually cause serious physical harm, diseases and death. Relatively benign cannabis on the other hand? Not really. Lol Dumb.
In all 50 states the drug le.g@[email protected] crow.d are in the leadership of working to pass gun control. Don’t trust them.
Their real job is to cause as many people as possible to get distracted by getting intoxicated.
Do you barge into all your local bars, restaurants, sports events, concerts and nightclubs while harassing and yelling your very same little weird conspiracy theory at all of the alcohol drinking patrons there: “In all 50 states the drug le.g@[email protected] crow.d are in the leadership of working to pass gun control. Don’t trust them. Their real job is to cause as many people as possible to get distracted by getting intoxicated.”?
Why not? Do you realize that completely federally legal alcohol is indeed a real, dangerous, and deadly drug? Do you realize that people who enjoy alcohol are in fact the main people in your “drug legalization crowd”? Do you realize that alcohol is a drug?
You sound completely irrational and delusional trying to fear monger the public over relatively benign cannabis legalization as some huge conspiracy. Ridiculous!
There should be no federal law, or constitutional amend designed to protect us from ourselves; none. If we need law to protect us from ourselves, we are too stupid to be left free on the streets. Law should only seek to protect us from others.
On the other hand, if all law is abolished, there would be exactly zero criminals.
“ Law should only seek to protect us from others.” – Natural Law on which the USA was founded; Governments are instituted among men for the preservation of their Natural Rights. natural rights are violated by taxes to support the lazy.
“On the other hand, if all law is abolished, there would be exactly zero criminals.”- this ignores the prior sentence, pretending that we only have social norms and the “my truth” garbage.
Anybody else tired of the green shops, the skunk smell, the hot-boxing, and how weed renders a house more poisonous to children than tobacco? It cannot be promoted on its merits, only in comparison with other poisons.
What we certainly don’t need are anymore people who feel justified in appointing themselves to be self-deputized morality police.
We are very capable of choosing for ourselves if we want to consume cannabis, a far less dangerous choice over alcohol, and we definitely don’t need anyone dictating how we should live our own lives.
We can’t just lock up everyone who does things prohibitionists don’t personally approve of.
In reply to your silly: “It cannot be promoted on its merits, only in comparison with other poisons.”
Really? Try selling that illogical prohibitionist nonsense to Bill Gates, Carl Sagan, Oprah Winfrey and many, many other very successful people who have admitted to enjoying cannabis. Also, the following medical professionals, scientists and politicians amongst countless others worldwide completely disagree with your absurd statement and have a very long positive public list of “merits” associated with cannabis:
Below is a small sampling of quotes and a list of just a few of the many Professional Medical Organizations Worldwide that attest to Medical Cannabis’s effectiveness and Support Legal Access to and Use of Medical Cannabis.
Along with over thirty-eight U.S states that have already legalized medical cannabis.
Are they ALL wrong? Well, are they, coffeemonster?
“[A] federal policy that prohibits physicians from alleviating suffering by prescribing marijuana for seriously ill patients is misguided, heavy-handed, and inhumane.” — Dr. Jerome Kassirer, “Federal Foolishness and Marijuana,” editorial, New England Journal of Medicine, January 30, 1997
“Therefore be it resolved that the American Nurses Association will: — Support the right of patients to have safe access to therapeutic marijuana/cannabis under appropriate prescriber supervision.” — American Nurses Association, resolution, 2003
“The National Nurses Society on Addictions urges the federal government to remove marijuana from the Schedule I category immediately, and make it available for physicians to prescribe. NNSA urges the American Nurses’ Association and other health care professional organizations to support patient access to this medicine.” — National Nurses Society on Addictions, May 1, 1995
“[M]arijuana has an extremely wide acute margin of safety for use under medical supervision and cannot cause lethal reactions … [G]reater harm is caused by the legal consequences of its prohibition than possible risks of medicinal use.” — American Public Health Association, Resolution #9513, “Access to Therapeutic Marijuana/Cannabis,” 1995
“When appropriately prescribed and monitored, marijuana/cannabis can provide immeasurable benefits for the health and well-being of our patients … We support state and federal legislation not only to remove criminal penalties associated with medical marijuana, but further to exclude marijuana/cannabis from classification as a Schedule I drug.” — American Academy of HIV Medicine, letter to New York Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, November 11, 2003
“The AAFP accepts the use of medical marijuana] under medical supervision and control for specific medical indications.” — American Academy of Family Physicians, 1989, reaffirmed in 2001
“[We] recommend … allow[ing] [marijuana] prescription where medically appropriate.” — National Association for Public Health Policy, November 15, 1998
International and National Organizations
AIDS Action Council
AIDS Treatment News
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Medical Student Association
American Nurses Association
American Preventive Medical Association
American Public Health Association
American Society of Addiction Medicine
Arthritis Research Campaign (United Kingdom)
Australian Medical Association (New South Wales) Limited
Australian National Task Force on Cannabis
Belgian Ministry of Health
British House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology
British House of Lords Select Committee On Science and Technology (Second Report)
British Medical Association
Canadian AIDS Society
Canadian Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs
Dr. Dean Edell (surgeon and nationally syndicated radio host)
French Ministry of Health
Health Canada
Kaiser Permanente
Lymphoma Foundation of America
The Montel Williams MS Foundation
Multiple Sclerosis Society (Canada)
The Multiple Sclerosis Society (United Kingdom)
National Academy of Sciences Institute Of Medicine (IOM)
National Association for Public Health Policy
National Nurses Society on Addictions
Netherlands Ministry of Health
New England Journal of Medicine
New South Wales (Australia) Parliamentary Working Party on the Use of Cannabis for Medical Purposes
Dr. Andrew Weil (nationally recognized professor of internal medicine and founder of the National Integrative Medicine Council)
State and Local Organizations
Alaska Nurses Association
Being Alive: People With HIV/AIDS Action Committee (San Diego, CA)
California Academy of Family Physicians
California Nurses Association
California Pharmacists Association
Colorado Nurses Association
Connecticut Nurses Association
Florida Governor’s Red Ribbon Panel on AIDS
Florida Medical Association
Hawaii Nurses Association
Illinois Nurses Association
Life Extension Foundation
Medical Society of the State of New York
Mississippi Nurses Association
New Jersey State Nurses Association
New Mexico Medical Society
New Mexico Nurses Association
New York County Medical Society
New York State Nurses Association
North Carolina Nurses Association
Rhode Island Medical Society
Rhode Island State Nurses Association
San Francisco Mayor’s Summit on AIDS and HIV
San Francisco Medical Society
Vermont Medical Marijuana Study Committee
Virginia Nurses Association
Whitman-Walker Clinic (Washington, DC)
Wisconsin Nurses Association
Additional AIDS Organizations
The following organizations are signatories to a February 17, 1999 letter to the US Department of Health petitioning the federal government to “make marijuana legally available … to people living with AIDS.”
AIDS Action Council
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
AIDS National Interfaith Network (Washington, DC)
AIDS Project Arizona
AIDS Project Los Angeles
Being Alive: People with HIV/AIDS Action Committee (San Diego, CA)
Boulder County AIDS Project (Boulder, CO)
Colorado AIDS Project
Center for AIDS Services (Oakland, CA)
Health Force: Women and Men Against AIDS (New York, NY)
Latino Commission on AIDS
Mobilization Against AIDS (San Francisco, CA)
Mothers Voices to End AIDS (New York, NY)
National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Association
National Native American AIDS Prevention Center
Northwest AIDS Foundation
People of Color Against AIDS Network (Seattle, WA)
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Whitman-Walker Clinic (Washington, DC)
Other Health Organizations
The following organizations are signatories to a June 2001 letter to the US Department of Health petitioning the federal government to “allow people suffering from serious illnesses … to apply to the federal government for special permission to use marijuana to treat their symptoms.”
Addiction Treatment Alternatives
AIDS Treatment Initiatives (Atlanta, GA)
American Public Health Association
American Preventive Medical Association
Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights (San Francisco, CA)
California Legislative Council for Older Americans
California Nurses Association
California Pharmacists Association
Embrace Life (Santa Cruz, CA)
Gay and Lesbian Medical Association
Hawaii Nurses Association
Hepatitis C Action and Advisory Coalition
Life Extension Foundation
Maine AIDS Alliance
Minnesota Nurses Association
Mississippi Nurses Association
National Association of People with AIDS
National Association for Public Health Policy
National Women’s Health Network
Nebraska AIDS Project
New Mexico Nurses Association
New York City AIDS Housing Network
New York State Nurses Association Ohio Patient Network Okaloosa AIDS Support and Information Services (Fort Walton, FL)
Physicians for Social Responsibility – Oregon
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Virginia Nurses Association
Wisconsin Nurses Association
Health Organizations Supporting Medical Marijuana Research
International and National Organizations
American Cancer Society
American Medical Association
British Medical Journal
California Medical Association
California Society on Addiction Medicine
Congress of Nursing Practice
Gay and Lesbian Medical Association
Jamaican National Commission on Ganja
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Workshop on the Medical Utility of Marijuana
Texas Medical Association
Vermont Medical Society
Wisconsin State Medical Society
“Cannabis is 114 times safer than drinking alcohol”
“Cannabis may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say”
“Cannabis may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say New study: We should stop fighting Cannabis legalization and focus on alcohol and tobacco instead By Christopher Ingraham February 23
Compared with other recreational drugs — including alcohol — Cannabis may be even safer than previously thought. And researchers may be systematically underestimating risks associated with alcohol use.
Those are the top-line findings of recent research published in the journal Scientific Reports, a subsidiary of Nature. Researchers sought to quantify the risk of death associated with the use of a variety of commonly used substances. They found that at the level of individual use, alcohol was the deadliest substance, followed by heroin and cocaine.”
-Washington Post
“The report discovered that Cannabis is 114 times less deadly than alcohol. Researchers were able to determine this by comparing the lethal doses with the amount of typical use. Through this approach, Cannabis had the lowest mortality risk to users out of all the drugs they studied. In fact—because the numbers were crossed with typical daily use—Cannabis is the only drug that tested as “low risk.”
-Complex
A long list of successful people have admitted to partaking in cannabis in their lives, including:
BILL GATES
“As for drugs – well, Gates was certainly not unusual there. cannabis was the pharmaceutical of choice…”
(Source: Gates: How Microsoft’s Mogul Reinvented an Industry–and Made Himself the Richest Man in America)
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
“I wouldn’t answer the cannabis questions. You know why? Because I don’t want some little kid doing what I tried.”
(Source: New York Times)
OPRAH WINFREY
“To kick things off, [television show host Andy Cohen] asked the last time Winfrey had smoked cannabis. ‘Uh … 1982,’ Winfrey replied. ‘Let’s hang out after the show,’ Cohen joked. ‘Okay,’ Winfrey laughed. ‘I hear it’s gotten better.'”
(Source: Bravo)
PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON
“I experimented with cannabis a time or two.”
(Source: YouTube)
ASSOCIATE SUPREME COURT JUSTICE CLARENCE
“The White House said today that Judge Clarence Thomas, President Bush’s Supreme Court nominee, had smoked cannabis while in college.”
(Source: New York Times)
STEPHEN COLBERT
“First, [in high school], I smoked a lot of pot…and that’s how I got to know the people ‘half in’ the society of my high school and we waved at each other over the bong. Then I got to know people by making jokes.”
(Source: San Francisco Chronicle Interview (January 2006))
JON STEWART
“Do you know how many movies I wrote when I was high?”
JOHN KERRY
“Yes.” [In response to the question: “Which of you are ready to admit to having used cannabis in the past?”]
(Source: On The Issues)
GEORGE SOROS
“He said he had tried cannabis, enjoyed it, ‘but it did not become a habit and I have not tasted it in many years.'”
(Source: Reuters, 2/6/97)
BILL MAHER
“Look, I have never made a secret of the fact that I have tried cannabis… About 50,000 times.”
(Source: YouTube)
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO
“I did experiment with cannabis when I was a youth.”
(Source: New York Daily News)
SEN. RAND PAUL
(Source: GQ Magazine)
SANJAY GUPTA
“I have tried it.”
(Source: CNN)
GEORGE CLOONEY
“The owner of a local cannabis café told reporters George Clooney was no stranger there.”
(Source: The Weed Blog)
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG
”You bet I did. And I enjoyed it.”
(Source: New York Times)
The list goes on and on.
Just because everyone else is jumping off buildings, does that make it Ok for you to do it?
We also can’t just arrest, lock up, and hand out life long permanent criminal records to everyone who, heaven forbid, dares to make you temporarily smell things you aren’t fond of smelling while you are out and about passing by for a few moments in public places. Sound fair and reasonable?”
Personally, I detest the odors of cigarettes, gasoline and farts and these odors are far more prevalent everywhere than the scent of cannabis is. Yet do you see me publicly advocating for making cigarettes, gasoline, and farts completely illegal and to criminilze and hand out life ling permanent criminal records to anyone who dares to make me smell their cigarettes, gasoline and farts while I’m out in public places? Of course not, right?
It’s called tolerance, being a reasonable, rational mature adult, and practicing a little live and let live. Try it sometime.
The whole “I can’t stand the smell…” excuse coupled with extreme silly exaggerations that we all know are entirely untrue like “It smells everywhere…” do not convince normal, sane, rational people and they definitely are not valid reasons for continuing to criminilze millions of American citizens over using cannabis.
Most intelligent people realize that those prohibitionists who complain the most and try to fear monger us over the smell of cannabis are just desperately fabricating any silly excuse they can make up. While the only one, real, true issue they do honestly have with cannabis legalization which they won’t ever publicly admit to having, is strictly an irrational personal moral issue with allowing other adults to legally enjoy cannabis that is not based on any real facts nor science. Just their own individual personal sense of morality that prohibitionists cannot ever rationally justify. So instead they create a bunch of extremely irrational made up excuses which are also referred to as reefer madness.
“Governments are instituted among men for the preservation of their Natural Rights.”
One has only those natural, human, civil and constitutional rights one can personally defend.
“…relatively benign cannabis…”
Is that the latest talking point? Sorry, but the only dope you been smoking is you.
Anyone who acts like they don’t have the common sense that non-toxic cannabis which has never been the direct cause of even one single death in all documented history worldwide is not relatively benign when compared to highly toxic yet entirely legal alcohol that has always been the direct cause of millions of deaths worldwide yearly, that person in denial has an obvious illogical anti-cannabis agenda and needs a very serious checkup from the neck up by a mental health professional.
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