Prince Lobel Partner and NORML Amicus Committee Co-chair, David C. Holland, was the principal author of a “friend of the court” brief recently accepted by the Federal 11th Circuit Court of Appeals advocating for the Second Amendment rights of Florida medical cannabis patients to bear arms.
In Vera Cooper et. al. v. Attorney General of the United States et. al., (“Cooper v Garland”), the appellants challenge the constitutionality of federal statute 18 U.S. Code § 922(g), which bars medical cannabis patients from the right to bear arms as otherwise guaranteed under the Second Amendment. The plaintiffs, Florida residents registered with the state’s medical cannabis program and a gun owner who wishes to participate in the program, insist that medical marijuana patients should not be prohibited from firearm ownership as a class of individuals based solely on their choice of treatment.
By examining the history of cannabis in America as well as the history of limitations around the right to bear arms as required by the US Supreme Court’s recent precedent, Holland argues that the discrimination against a class of people based solely on their medical status and usage is unconstitutional.
Read the press release from NORML here.