Relief for Second Amendment Cannabis Consumers on the Horizon?

Although New Hampshire has a legal medical cannabis program you might be surprised to learn that we currently have the lowest participation per capital in the country.

One of the reasons for this may be that New Hampshire is also a very pro second amendment state. Over the years I’ve spoken with many residents that refuse to get a medical card, even though they have a highly qualified condition, because they don’t want to lose their second amendment right for self defense, hunting or recreation.

It is currently federally illegal to both consume cannabis and exercise your second amendment rights. That, however, may be on a slow motion path to changing.

On December 31st 2024 The Reload published an article titled Federal Judge Strikes Down Gun Ban for Habitual Marijuana User that reviewed a new ruling by a federal judge in Texas.

The article reports…

Regularly smoking weed does not necessarily void a person’s Second Amendment rights, according to a new ruling by a federal judge in Texas.

 

On Monday, US District Judge David Briones dismissed a criminal indictment against an El Paso man caught with multiple bags of marijuana and firearms in his home. He determined that the Government couldn’t prove the man was high at the time of his arrest. Therefore, his prosecution represented an unconstitutional application of the federal law that bans drug users from owning firearms.

 

“Defendant is part of ‘the people’ whose conduct is covered and protected by the Second Amendment,” Judge Briones wrote in US v. Gil. “Because he is part of ‘the people,’ the Government had the burden to identify a historical analogue similar enough to 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) to show that individuals like Defendant were disarmed at the time of the Founding. The Government failed to meet its burden. Therefore, the Court finds that 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) is unconstitutional as applied to Defendant.”

While changes at the federal level may not be the highest of priority, the cases are starting to stack up in confirmation that past cannabis consumption does not support disarming someone.

Read the full article at The Reload along with associated commentary at Bearing Arms.

*image created with Grok AI