After Medical Pot Legalization, Oklahomans May Have To Choose Between Guns And Marijuana

By Jonathan Baker • Jul 1, 2018

Credit CC0 Creative Commons

Last week, Oklahoma became the 30th state to legalize medical marijuana.

But, as CBS News reports, gun owners who want to smoke pot for medical reasons may be out of luck. The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has confirmed to a local TV station in the Sooner State that the bureau will stand by a 2011 letter prohibiting any “unlawful user” of a controlled substance from “possessing firearms or ammunition.”

According to the ATF, anyone who uses marijuana, regardless of state law, qualifies as an “unlawful user of” the drug and is therefore prohibited from owning a firearm. Under the new law, it appears that possessing a medical marijuana card will be sufficient evidence to be seen as an unlawful marijuana user—even if the card was obtained illegally—and anyone who possesses such a card cannot also be in possession of a gun.

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medical marijuana
gun control

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