Even in states where medical marijuana is legal, a ruling in the United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that illegal drug users (a group, the feds maintain, that still includes weed smokers) cannot legally purchase a firearm. Banning gun sales among tokers doesn’t violate the Second Amendment, the federal appeals court ruled.
Wednesday’s 3–0 ruling applies to nine Western states in the court’s jurisdiction: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. Medical marijuana is legal in California, Hawaii, Montana, and Nevada (and recreationally legal in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington). Federally, however, cannabis is classified as a Schedule I substance. And, according to Senior District Judge Jed Rakoff, who wrote the court’s opinion in the ruling, “it is beyond dispute” that weed users are likely “to experience altered or impaired mental states that affect their judgment and that can lead to irrational or unpredictable behavior.”
