Oregon Supreme Court Rules Medical Marijuana Users Can Still Carry Guns

In a surprising decision, the Oregon State Supreme Court has ruled that Medical Marijuana patients can also have concealed handgun permits.

Needless to say the issue is rife with controversy. No matter what the state supreme court decrees marijuana, medical or otherwise, is illegal due to Federal law which supersedes state law.

Furthermore, ATF form 4473 (necessary to buy a gun from any dealer) specifically prohibits selling guns to unlawful users of marijuana.

This includes all "medical marijuana" users because whatever the states wish, they cannot override federal law.

So, it comes as a surprise to many that the court would decide the case this way. As unexpected (and largely symbolic) as the ruling is, I think it is unmistakably the right one.

Let me explain why. Firstly, Pot Prohibition is unconstitutional and a violation of individual rights to boot. It is unconstitutional because the 10th amendment says:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

The constitution never delegates the power of deciding which medicines or recreational drugs are acceptable to the Federal Government. Therefore, it is a violation of constitutional authority for the government to make such a law. You may notice that when the government outlawed alcohol, they had the decency to pass a constitutional amendment. Without such an amendment, it was widely acknowledged that the government could not achieve its goal.

Regardless of what the constitution says, drug prohibition is a violation of individual rights. The individual has the right to do whatever he wants with his own health so long as he doesn't violate the rights of others. Smoking marijuana clearly doesn't rise to the level of force.

It is true that violence is associated with the drug trade, but that is because of prohibition not drugs. The illegal alcohol trade had a large amount of violence associated with it as well. You may notice that once it was legalized, that all ended. When was the last time a Budweiser delivery driver shot it out with a Miller dealer?

It is currently legal to drink alcohol and have a CCW in every state that permits them. Every study I've seen shows that alcohol makes you more prone to violence, and pot does the exact opposite. Given those two statistics, it's obvious that marijuana smoking gun owners will be safer than alcohol drinking gun owners. No one is calling to restrict the rights of wine aficionados to carry concealed, so this decision seems like a no brainer.