Medical Marijuana Patients Retain 2nd Amendment Rights

Good news for gun owners with a prescription for pot.

According to the (Medford, Ore.) Mail Tribune, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an Oregon sheriff's challenge that U.S. law trumps state law, meaning concealed gun owners who are prescribed medical marijuana will be allowed to keep their licenses.

The case is in reference to Gold Hill, Ore., resident Cynthia Willis, whose registration renewal was denied by Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters after the sheriff discovered that she was also a medical marijuana patient.

"Just because we're patients doesn't mean we don't have real lifestyles and rights like everyone else," Willis said, adding she was the owner of her Walther P22 long before she had been prescribed marijuana.

Winters argued that issuing Willis a license would violate the Gun Control Act of 1968, which forbids anyone who uses or is addicted to a controlled substance from possessing a firearm.  Medical marijuana is legal in Oregon, but is still considered a controlled substance under federal law.

However, Winters' argument was shot down by local courts, then appellate courts. The Oregon Supreme Court also sided with Willis before the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case.