GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday that a retired school bus driver can have her medical marijuana and a concealed handgun, too.
The ruling upheld previous decisions by the Oregon
Court of Appeals and circuit court that determined a federal law barring
criminals and drug addicts from buying firearms does not excuse sheriffs from
issuing concealed weapons permits to people who hold medical marijuana cards
and otherwise qualify.
"We hold that the Federal Gun Control Act does
not pre-empt the state's concealed handgun licensing statute and, therefore,
the sheriffs must issue (or renew) the requested licenses," Chief Justice
Paul De Muniz wrote in the ruling issued in Salem.
Cynthia Willis, one of four plaintiffs, welcomed
the ruling.
"I feel like a big girl now," Willis
said. "I feel like a real human being now, not just a source of revenue to
the county."
Leland Berger, the attorney representing Willis and
other medical marijuana patients in the state, said the ruling was important in
the continuing national debate over making marijuana legal to treat medical
conditions.
"I am hopeful we will end cannabis prohibition
the same way we ended alcohol prohibition, which was by refusing to enforce
federal laws within the state," Berger said.
Berger noted that acceptance of medical marijuana
continues to grow, with Delaware last week becoming the 16th state to make it
legal.
Willis, 54, has carried a Walther .22-caliber
automatic pistol for personal protection since a messy divorce several years
ago.
She volunteers at a Medford smoke shop that helps
medical marijuana patients find growers, and teaches how to get the most
medical benefit from the pound-and-a-half of pot that card carriers are allowed
to possess.
She uses marijuana cookies, joints and salves to
treat arthritis pain and muscle spasms.
Elmer Dickens, a lawyer representing the sheriffs
of Washington and Jackson counties, said the ruling provided needed
clarification on whether the defendants should follow federal or state law on
what has been a cloudy issue.
Dickens did not anticipate an appeal to the U.S.
Supreme Court, because the ruling focused so tightly on state law.
"Every sheriff knows now what the rules are,
and we got what we needed," he said.
The ruling also said Congress has no constitutional
authority to require states to use gun licensing statues to enforce a federal
law like the prohibition on handguns for marijuana users.
Allen St. Pierre, executive director of NORML, said
the Oregon justices "didn't drink the Kool-Aid" by adopting the view
that marijuana should be treated differently than 400,000 other drugs used as
medicine.
He noted that during Prohibition, many people could
buy alcohol by claiming a medical benefit.
Oregon Attorney General John Kroger had argued in
favor of the medical marijuana patients and against the sheriffs of Jackson and
Washington counties who withheld handgun permits.
Oregon became one of the first states in the nation
to authorize people to use marijuana to treat medical conditions when voters
approved an initiative in 1998. The state has also moved marijuana down the
list of illegal drugs from the top ranking to No. 2.
Nearly 40,000 Oregonians hold medical marijuana
patient cards, with more than 36,000 of them for severe pain, according to
Oregon Medical Marijuana Program statistics. Another 22,000 are registered as
growers, and 21,000 as caregivers.
The ruling came the same day that the Oregon House
was holding a hearing on a bill crafted by retired state troopers in the
Legislature that would make it tougher for doctors to issue medical marijuana
cards.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo/Jeff Barnard, File)
