A DEMOCRAT CHALLENGES THE GUN BAN FOR MARIJUANA USERS.

• Author: Sullum, Jacob
• Position: DRUGS - Nikki Fried

NIKKI FRIED, THE only Democrat among Florida's statewide elected officials, might seem like an unlikely champion of the Second Amendment. But as Florida's commissioner of agriculture and consumer affairs, Fried oversees medical marijuana and concealed carry permits, both of which are affected by a federal law that prohibits cannabis consumers from owning guns. That ban, Fried argues in a federal lawsuit she filed in April, is illegal and unconstitutional.

"I'm suing the Biden Administration because people's rights are being limited," Fried announced on Twitter. "Medical marijuana is legal. Guns are legal. This is about people's rights and their freedoms to responsibly have both."

In addition to her Second Amendment claim, Fried argues that the ban on gun possession by marijuana users violates a congressional spending rider that bars the Justice Department from interfering with state medical marijuana programs. Florida, where voters approved medical use of cannabis in 2016, is one of 37 states with such '""programs. Fried is asking the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida for an injunction barring federal officials from enforcing the gun restrictions against "state medical marijuana patients."

Under current law, cannabis consumers who receive or possess firearms are committing a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Falsely denying marijuana use on the form required to buy a gun from a federally licensed dealer is another felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. The form includes a warning that...