The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island filed a “friend of the court” brief supporting a challenge to a federal law that completely bars unlawful users of controlled substances — including medical marijuana, which, though legal in Rhode Island, remains illegal at the federal level — from possessing firearms.
The case involves criminal charges filed by the U.S. Government against David Worster and Alexzandria Carl under that statute. In February, U.S. District Chief Judge John McConnell, Jr. ruled that the federal law was unconstitutional as applied to them. The ACLU’s brief echoes that conclusion, arguing that the government’s application of the federal law “violates the Second Amendment because it would disarm them and all other users of marijuana regardless of whether their use of marijuana renders their possession of firearms dangerous.”
For decades, the ACLU has contested the criminalization of marijuana possession and the gross racial disparity in arrests and incarceration of racial minorities for violation of marijuana laws. In Rhode Island, the ACLU has legislatively supported, ultimately successfully, the legalization of medical marijuana and recreational marijuana possession, and the creation of marijuana dispensaries even as the drug remains illegal under federal law. The ACLU of Rhode Island has also litigated numerous cases over the years challenging arbitrary police interference with gun ownership, including a successful lawsuit decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2021.
The brief, filed by ACLU of RI cooperating attorneys Thomas W. Lyons and Rhiannon Huffman, notes:
"[T]he government does not allege or argue that the Appellees were under the influence of marijuana at any time they were handling the firearm or even when they were arrested. The Indictment does not assert that the Appellees were likely risks of unsafe use of this firearm. The record at most indicates that they used marijuana and that they also possessed a firearm. Nothing in the government’s filings indicates it is prepared to prove anything more than that. The Second Amendment does not permit the use of [the federal statute] to disarm the Appellees based on those allegations."
Further pointing out that the government “does not identify any study or report that says a person in possession of a firearm is per se more dangerous if he is a user of marijuana,” the brief urges the appellate court to uphold the lower court’s decision. The brief notes that six other federal appellate courts have also held that the law “is unconstitutional if it is applied per se to bar firearm possession by a marijuana user.”
ACLU of RI cooperating attorney Lyons said: “The Government wants to enforce a statute that makes possession of a firearm a crime by anyone who uses marijuana in any way without any showing that the combination is dangerous. That violates the Second Amendment.”
ACLU of RI executive director Steven Brown added: “It should be abundantly clear that it is grossly unfair to bar a person from owning a firearm solely because of their lawful use of marijuana, regardless of one’s position on the gun control debate. We hope that the appeals court will agree."
A copy of the ACLU’s brief and other case documents can be found here.
