Nikki Fried D Florida's Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services recently filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration to emphasize the issue of medical cannabis patients and their Second Amendment right to purchase and possess firearms.
Fried, a longtime friend of the marijuana reform movement, continues to push for the cause, now more than ever as she aspires to become the first female governor of the Sunshine State.
Fried said that legalization is inevitable and that state and federal cannabis policies seem to be widening, according to an op-ed published by Marijuana Moment on Monday.
The current discrepancies between state and federal cannabis policies is creating a system of winners and losers, stifling economic opportunity, punishing patients, and allowing the injustices created by the failed War on Drugs to wreak havoc on Black, Brown and low-income communities, Fried wrote.
The CRS looked at everything from banking challenges to trafficking trends in an attempt to fully grasp the status quo, which creates unique consequences for individuals who act in compliance with state law but do not violate federal law, according to the CRS. The gaps between federal marijuana law and federal enforcement policy and the issues it creates continue each year. Fried's goal is to bring attention to just one of the many ways in which the federal government's inconsistent and illogical cannabis policies are creating confusion and real harm, as well as the issue of the federal lawsuit she recently filed. See: Feds Say Nope To Guns And Dope: Florida Agriculture Commissioner Says Medical Marijuana Cardholders Deprived Of Second Amendment Rights
The Constitutional rights of state-legal medical marijuana patients in Florida are constrained because of the current language on a federal form that prohibits them from buying a firearm.
She stated that this isn't in a way of challenging the federal government's right to enact reasonable gun regulations to protect the public, as I am a staunch advocate for more common-sense gun violence prevention measures.
When I came into office, I made a commitment that my department would make sure a thorough background check was conducted for every single concealed weapon applicant — something the previous administration didn't do - and we have met and kept that promise, she said.
When Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed in the 2018 Parkland mass shooting, first read about Fried's lawsuit, his initial instinct was not to understand what the commissioner was doing. After a phone call with her, Guttenberg had a clearer picture of Fried's intentions, he told Marijuana Moment in a phone interview.
Fried wants to bring all legal, lawful people into the process of having a background check to buy a firearm, and candidly, I support that, Guttenberg said.