The MS Wire

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What You Should Know About Medical Marijuana and Owning a Gun

What You Should Know About Medical Marijuana and Owning a Gun

I’ve written before about medical marijuana (MMJ) and its use by those of us with MS. I’ve also written about how MS can affect a gun owner. This column is about MMJ, guns and the federal government.

Thirty-one states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam have legalized the use of marijuana for medical use. From everything I’ve read, written by people with MS and healthcare professionals, medical marijuana can help alleviate our pain and reduce our spasticity. I’d guess that the number of people who use MMJ, and who carry MMJ registration cards, is significant and will keep growing. But if you’re one of those card-carrying MMJ users and you’re also a gun owner, you potentially have a problem.

States may say yes, but the feds say no

The problem is this: The medical marijuana laws are state laws. Possession of marijuana is still illegal under federal law.

In 2011, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) made that very clear in an open letter addressed “To All Firearms Licensees.” In it, the ATF leaves no doubt that it views the simultaneous possession of a gun and marijuana as a crime, even if you’re using marijuana medically and are a registered MMJ user in your state.

In January 2017, the ATF went a step further by revising its Form 4473. That’s the form you need to complete when you buy a gun from a dealer. The revision adds a warning to Question 11.e, the question that asks you whether you use an illegal drug. It now reads (emphasis in the original text):

“Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?
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 reside.” 

Your MMJ card could be a ‘smoking gun’

Reg Wydeven is an attorney who writes a column for Appleton, Wisconsin’s Post Crescent newspaper. Curious about this medical marijuana and gun problem, Wydeven asked the ATF’s regional office in Dallas about it. He received this no-doubt-about-it response from Dallas-based ATF Public Information Officer Meredith Davis:

“[U]sing a controlled substance is a prohibitor [to gun possession], similar to being convicted of a felony offense. If you hold a license to use marijuana for medical use, there’s no exception for that prohibition under federal law.”

“If you possess a medical marijuana card, it’s presumed that you’re a user,” she added. “You might even say it would constitute a smoking gun. So you cannot possess, you can’t transfer, you can’t ship firearms or ammunition if you hold that [medical marijuana] license.”

Pretty clear, huh?
So, if you’re using medical marijuana for your MS and you own a gun, or you’re thinking about it, you might want to think again. Or, at least talk with an attorney.

(This post first appeared as my column on the Multiple Sclerosis News Today website).

Reader Comments

  1. Foremost I wish to express gratitude for sharing the two documentaries.

    The first one is more informative to communicate the symptoms of MS with those who do not know about it.

    I am diagnosed with MS in April 2008.
    I am on DMT but disease progression did not stop.

    Hope and faith has carried me through some tough periods and not least my wonderful wife who has made me feel no less able and always by my side. I am sooo blessed.

    I feel good and proud that most people can not tell that I have issues. I make effort not to expose my disabilities.

    Either by not going in public on bad days and/or not use the impacted arm or hand, keep to short distance walking and so on. We can be creative hiding it.

    First film portrays strength in fighting MS. It is commendable not to give up. I am great believer in lifting own spirit. It helps me to feel my normal self.

    However, I admit it is not always easy. Some days depression due to limitation of ability toward daily normal living kicks in horrible thoughts to point of despair, like giving up!

    Film doesn’t address psychological aspect which can be more crippling than symptoms of disability.

    My wife is due for delivery end of Sept.
    Horrifying thoughts are haunting.

    How will I be able to share active life?

    Will I be able to hold him?

    Am I going to accidentally drop him?

    Will I be able to play with him?

    How is he gonna feel when he sees his friends Papas actively playing wz them

    How much of a load on my wife?

    Attend to baby & still has to assist me?

    I am hoping my new born will be my salvation. Giving me great purpose to being there. Teaching myself that parenting is much more than activity.

    My first child ever and hoping to be a good and giving Father against z odds.

    Thank U for opportunity to share.

    1. Hi A. Sharr –

      I just want to give you a quick response to your concerns about fatherhood. My son was born in June, 1979. I was diagnosed with MS in August, 1980…way before there were any DMTs. I’m now 70 years old and my son is 39.

      You will hold and love your son. I changed his diapers, fed him and, later, worked with him on his homework. Still later, using a cane, I walked down the aisle behind him and his wife-to-be. Now we have two grandkids to enjoy.

      You’ll do as much with him as you can and he’ll understand. I couldn’t ski with him but I was his team’s scorekeeper when he played varsity baseball in high school. My MS makes me a little different but, so what?

      The odds of your being an excellent father are good…you’re not fighting the odds. And I have no doubt that your child will accept you as you are.

      Don’t hide from the storm. Learn to dance in the rain.

      Ed

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