Gun Rights Being Held From Medical Marijuana Patients

In 2004, Montana shocked many other regions by becoming one of the first ten states to allow the use of medicinal marijuana. Since then there has been some debate as to how to distribute and regulate it, but for the most part local communities have not seen any negative effects.

Despite this, Montana prescription holders are now being told that they are not allowed to purchase guns or ammunition. The ATF, or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, is getting strict with gun control when it comes to marijuana users.

There is a federal law in place that prevents unlawful users or addicts from exercising their second amendment rights, and the federal government still views marijuana as an unlawful drug. This affects all states, but Montana is being hit especially hard, because there is a higher population of hunters.

Many people in the medical marijuana community are also in support of gun control. Elimination of gun use is a popular train of thought among patients, yet it is hard not to be outraged by this obvious discrimination.

Are alcohol users allowed to buy guns and ammunition? Absolutely. So why are users of a softer, less mind-altering drug being denied? Historically, alcohol has been the cause of severe aggression and violence, but this is not the case with marijuana.

Consider this statement, made by the British Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs in 2002:

“Cannabis differs from alcohol…in one major respect. It does not seem to increase risk-taking behavior. This means that cannabis rarely contributes to violence, either to others or oneself, whereas alcohol use is a major factor in deliberate self-harm, domestic accidents, and violence.”

The federal government should know this just as much as anyone else, and therefore the current reinterpretation of policy is unacceptable.