Medical
Marijuana:
Sheriff
Can't
Revoke
Pistol
Permit
Just
Because
of
Medical
Use,
Oregon
Court
Rules
12/16/05
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/415/pistolpermits.shtml
Being a medical marijuana
user does not make you unfit to possess a concealed pistol permit, an Oregon
circuit court judge held Tuesday. The ruling came in a case that
began when Washington County Sheriff Rob Gordon revoked Steven Schwerdt's
permit after Schwerdt revealed that he uses medical marijuana. Sheriff
Gordon had also jerked the permits of at least four other medical marijuana
patients, County Counsel Elmer Dickens told the court.
Oregon voters approved the
use of medical marijuana in 1998 with passage of the Oregon Medical Marijuana
Act. Some 11,000 Oregonians, including Schwerdt, hold state-issued medical
marijuana cards.
But Sheriff Gordon and County
counsel Dickens argued the sheriff was adhering to the terms of federal
gun control statutes, which forbid people who use illicit controlled substances
in a "consistent and prolonged" fashion from possessing firearms. Congress
"intended to keep firearms out of the hands of presumptively risky people,"
Dickens argued as he asked the court for "a good-faith extension" of federal
law to Oregon state law.
No can do, ruled Washington
County Circuit Court Judge Marco Hernandez. Oregon law did not give county
sheriffs the right to deny or revoke permits based specifically on violations
of the federal law, he held. Nor did the county convince him that Schwerdt
was violating the law, he added.
Schwedt's case was argued
by activist attorney Leland Berger, who hailed the ruling afterward in
remarks reported by the Portland Oregonian. "The idea is that Congress
did not want people who are under the influence to be buying or possessing
guns," he said. "Here, the use is medicinal. I think the sheriff unfairly
singles out medical marijuana users."
Sheriff Gordon denied that
charge. Federal law bars illegal drug users from possessing firearms, he
told the Oregonian. "I can't license someone to carry a weapon that the
federal government says they can't have in the first place," Gordon said.
"The legislators have to get together and get some clarity on that."
In the meantime, and unless
and until the county appeals, Sheriff Gordon must give Schwerdt his permit
back and no longer use medical marijuana as an excuse to deny or revoke
permits for others.
-- END --
Issue #415
-- 12/16/05
Appeal:
David
Borden
Makes
a
Case
to
Support
DRCNet
for
2006
|
Feature:
DEA,
Local
Police
Join
Forces
to
Raid
13
San
Diego
Medical
Marijuana
Dispensaries
|
Feature:
Jurors
Acquit
California
Narc
Who
Killed
Rudy
Cardenas
in
Mistaken
Chase
|
Feature:
Coca
Leader
Evo
Morales
Poised
to
Win
Bolivia
Presidential
Vote
Sunday
|
DRCNet
Book
Review:
"Bud,
Inc.:
Inside
Canada's
Marijuana
Industry,"
by
Ian
Mulgrew
(2005,
Random
House
Canada,
287
pp.,
approx.
$US
29.00,
HB)
|
Alert:
Protest
DEA's
December
Outrage
|
Law
Enforcement:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
|
Sentencing:
Report
on
2004
New
York
Drug
Law
Reform
Finds
Less
than
Meets
the
Eye,
Much
More
to
Do
|
Industrial
Hemp:
South
Dakota
Indians
Go
to
Federal
Court
in
Effort
to
Grow
Crop
|
Medical
Marijuana:
Sheriff
Can't
Revoke
Pistol
Permit
Just
Because
of
Medical
Use,
Oregon
Court
Rules
|
Marijuana:
Governor
to
Try
Again
to
End
Legal
Marijuana
in
Alaska
|
Medical
Marijuana:
Bills
Active
in
Several
States
|
Latin
America:
GAO
Report
Challenges
US
Statistics
on
Cocaine
Seizures
|
Web
Scan:
Seattle
Times,
Village
Voice,
San
Diego
Raids
and
LEAP
in
Princeton
|
Weekly:
This
Week
in
History
|
Job
Openings:
Listings
at
the
Marijuana
Policy
Project
|
Weekly:
The
Reformer's
Calendar
|
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