Smoke medical Pot; lose your CCW

[ericire12]

http://www.kval.com/news/local/69244857.html

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The right of Oregonians to use marijuana for medical reasons and also to obtain concealed handgun permits is being challenged by local sheriffs who say federal law prevents those people from packing heat.

Advocates for the state's medical marijuana law countered Wednesday in the Oregon Court of Appeals that the sheriffs simply don't like the program and are looking for ways to undermine it.

Both sides now are looking to the courts to say definitively whether there's anything to prevent Oregon from issuing the concealed handgun permits to users of medicinal pot.

The head of the national marijuana advocacy group NORML said he's not aware of the issue being raised in the 13 other states that allow medicinal use of pot.

"It's kind of unique to Oregon that a couple of sheriffs there seem to want to defer to federal law when they really ought to be looking at enforcing state laws," Allen St. Pierre, NORML's executive director, said in an interview from Washington, D.C.

He also noted that the Obama administration in recent weeks has signaled that federal prosecutors will not go after people in those states who use medical marijuana legally.

"The administration is going to defer to local and state governments on these issues," he said.

Sheriffs from Washington and Jackson counties say, though, that they want clarification from the court on whether federal gun laws prohibiting illegal drug users from possessing handguns applies to people who have permits to use marijuana for medical reasons. Marijuana is still classified as a controlled substance under federal law, they said.

Lower courts had twice ordered the two sheriffs to give weapons permits to people who had lost them because they are medical marijuana users, and both appealed those rulings.

Attorney Elmer Dickens, representing Washington County Sheriff Rob Gordon, said the sheriff thinks he's in an untenable position.

"We don't think it's appropriate for the sheriff to be issuing a license to carry something that the federal government has said they are not even entitled to possess," Dickens said in court argumments.

A Portland lawyer for the advocates argued in court Wednesday that federal law doesn't trump Oregon's concealed handgun permit law.

Medical marijuana users who meet all other criteria cannot be deprived of the right to a concealed handgun permit, said Leland Berger, who helped write Oregon's medical marijuana law.

"What this is about is that the sheriffs don't like the medical marijuana law. Twelve years after it was approved by voters, the sheriffs want to discriminate against patients," he said.

Steven Schwerdt said he had a concealed handgun permit for six years before the Washington county sheriff's office revoked it when he became a medical marijuana user.

"I'm no criminal; I'm just a guy who can't physically run away from dangerous situations," said Schwerdt, who uses medical marijuana to relieve the symptoms of severe arthritis and gout.

Schwerdt got his gun permit back in May 2008 when a lower court judge overruled the sheriff's office on grounds that there was no legitimate reason to deny him one.

[JC5123]

So I guess this means that I can drink and carry.  Dumbasses! It has always been a strict violation of concealed carry that you not be under the influence of ANYTHING. So fine, don't deny them the permit if both activities are legal in the state. BUT if they get caught carrying while high, they immediately lose their license, forever. Oh, and don't expect a lot of states to reciprocate.

[Woody]

 Sounds like a good back door way to disarm people, whether it is safe or not. How about people who misuse prescription drugs, and alcohol, which are legal? Looks like we'll have to give a blood test o buy a gun, All this just makes for more laws and a new branch of the govt to regulate it.
Quit buying the CIA's drugs people, your financing world takeover with every purchase.

[TAB]

woody federal law already covers that...

by law they have to ask if your addicted to anything...  you would be amazed at how many people say yes to that q.

[fightingquaker13]

This is pure BS. Using a drug and carrying does not mean being under the influence and carrying. Its like saying because you drink alchohol or take some medication tht makes you drowsy, you can't have a gun. No one is arguing that you should be able to carry while inebrieated. Simply that if you indulge, legally in your own home, that should not keep you from carrying the next day when you are not under the influence.
FQ13

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

This is pure BS. Using a drug and carrying does not mean being under the influence and carrying. Its like saying because you drink alchohol or take some medication tht makes you drowsy, you can't have a gun. No one is arguing that you should be able to carry while inebrieated. Simply that if you indulge, legally in your own home, that should not keep you from carrying the next day when you are not under the influence.
FQ13

Another thing, The question on the ATF form is "Are you ADDICTED to" which is a different matter altogether.

[jnevis]

I think you guys are missing part of the picture here.  Sure being under the influence and shooting is dumb, whether drugs, legal or otherwise, or alcohol. 

Besides most of the people I have seen trying to get medical MJ have a physical disability that I personally wouldn't want to have a gun either.  The people I have dealt with were physically disabled (weakness, temors ect normally because of another illness) or had vision issues (cataracts, glucoma, near blindness).  Do you want someone who can't see very well or can't aim properly/hold the gun up wandering around armed? My wife's aunt is a medically retired CA prison guard and has a CCW pretty much for life.  She could probably qualify for CA's medical MJ program, if she hasn't already.  She can barely keep the G36 she carries on target for more than a shot or two and can JUST see the target at 15yds.  She is SUPPOSED to qualify with it every couple years to maintain it but hasn't fired the complete course since I've known her. Love her to death but wouldn't want to be around if she actually had to use the bloody thing.

FQ-Last time I checked if your were USING MJ or any other medication meant you were to some extent UNDER THE INFLUENCE of SOMETHING.  The affects also have some duration.  Most that are part of those kinds of programs don't use one day and not the next.  It is a daily thing, if not more than once a day.  Alcohol is processed in the body MUCH faster than THC so that isn't a realy good analogy.

[tombogan03884]

All in all I'd rather be around armed stoner's than armed drunks.
Drunks are unpredictable where as a stoner is more likely to tell you to have some cookies and chill.  

[bbbean]

I don't understand why these two things are related any more than having a liquor cabinet or taking cold medicine and having a CCW are related. To me, this reeks (pardon the pun) of kicking someone while they're down.

Are we really going to tell someone going through chemotherapy that they have to give up their 2nd amendment rights?

[fightingquaker13]

Besides most of the people I have seen trying to get medical MJ have a physical disability that I personally wouldn't want to have a gun either.  The people I have dealt with were physically disabled (weakness, temors ect normally because of another illness) or had vision issues (cataracts, glucoma, near blindness).  Do you want someone who can't see very well or can't aim properly/hold the gun up wandering around armed? My wife's aunt is a medically retired CA prison guard and has a CCW pretty much for life.  She could probably qualify for CA's medical MJ program, if she hasn't already.  She can barely keep the G36 she carries on target for more than a shot or two and can JUST see the target at 15yds.  She is SUPPOSED to qualify with it every couple years to maintain it but hasn't fired the complete course since I've known her. Love her to death but wouldn't want to be around if she actually had to use the bloody thing.

What about 15 feet? Its a more realistic SD distance. The the thing is that the elderly, the weak, the halt (what does that mean anyway) and the lame are more likely to need a gun than those who are healthy and strong. They will be targeted by scumbags looking for an easy score and have nothing to fall back on if they have no weapon. Back in high school I smoked my share, and probaly yours, of he demon weed. It did not effect me the next day. I was able to drive, mow the lawns I mowed for money, and operate a boat without that "Oh crap I'm stoned/drunk and should not be doing this" feeling I got exactly once before making a life long promise to myself that I would always have Taxi money if I was going to drink. The point is, I think you might have watched "Reefer Madness" one too many times. Someone who smokes a joint at 5pm so they will have an appetite for dinner at 7pm despite the chemo is not a threat to themselves and others the next day.
FQ13