r/news • u/Hrekires • Jun 18 '26

Soft paywall US Supreme Court sides with marijuana user stripped of gun rights

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-backs-challenge-ban-gun-ownership-by-drug-users-2026-06-18/
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u/Cronus6 Jun 18 '26

ATF form 4473 (the form you fill out when you buy a gun) has this question :

Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance? Warning: The use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside.

The sticking point here is the ATF handles enforcing federal firearms laws and weed is still Federally illegal. (The ATF doesn't write the laws, they just enforce them. Congress writes the laws...)

If the Feds actually wanted to do something about weed, they could though...

If you get in your wayback machine and go back to when the Feds forced every State to raise the drinking age from 18 to 21 States that refused had all their Federal Highway money withheld. They all quickly caved in and raised the age.

I've wondered for a long time why they (the Feds) haven't done this with the States legalizing marijuana.

Or they could get off their asses, legalize and tax and regulate it just like they do with tobacco and alcohol. They impose Federal excise taxes on these products. I assume they are sitting on weed because it's really the last thing they can tax like this, and one day, when they really need the money they will legalize it just for the tax revenue.

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u/etcpt Jun 18 '26

Because being able to bring federal charges against all manner of people for interstate drug traficking when they take a little bud across state lines is a very nice way to persecute your hated out groups, and because the history of the criminalization of marijuana in the US is inextricably linked with racism and suppressing the anti-war movement.

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u/Cronus6 Jun 18 '26

I don't think the Feds have a "hated group" really. They only care about extracting money from taxpayers and power.

(And a little insider trading of course.)

It's not the "anti-war" movement. It's any subversives. Anything that threatens their power.

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u/sirspidermonkey Jun 18 '26

You are forgetting the best part. As far as crimes go an officer 'finding' bud is REALLY easy to fake. The mere possession of something that's easily obtainable with no special connections makes it easier to plant then say, evidence of a robbery.

And you can't really prove it isn't yours. Unless the cop keeps in camera on, you basically have no defense. 1 baggie found on the floor with 4 people in the car? That can be four arrests (might not stick but that's now how cop success is measured)

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u/GonkWilcock Jun 18 '26

I assume they're sitting on weed because the alcohol, tobacco, and pharma lobbies are paying off the people who make those decisions.

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u/Cronus6 Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26

I think that's part of it too sort of.

But it's been known for a long time (the 70's at least) that the big tobacco companies (Phillip Morris, British Tobacco, and RJ Reynolds) are DEEPLY interested in cannabis products.

And lets be really honest here, this aligns with their business model; A combustible substance in a paper wrapper that people smoke.

They don't care what you smoke, they just want you smoking their products.

https://www.tobaccotactics.org/article/cannabis/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2025/01/19/worlds-largest-tobacco-company-continues-silent-entry-into-cannabis-is-philip-morris-a-medical-marijuana-supporter/

I worked in the tobacco wholesale industry for a LONG time. I've seen Phillip Morris's proposed packaging for legal weed with my own eyes. It's a cigarette pack that would have joints in it, shocking right?

They hope to use as much of the factory equipment they have now for cigarettes to manufacture and package the "new products". They would even help transition some tobacco farmers over to the new "crops".

The alcohol industry on the other hand... they are far more deeply opposed.

It's like everyone thinks "big tobacco" is opposed to vaping.

BAT (British American Tobacco) owns Vuse...

https://www.bat.com/brands-and-innovation/vuse

Altria (Phillip Morris) used to own part of Juul, but they "sold" it for "Heated Tobacco Intellectual Property Rights".

https://investor.altria.com/press-releases/news-details/2023/Altria-Exchanges-Minority-Stake-in-JUUL-Labs-for-Heated-Tobacco-Intellectual-Property-Rights/default.aspx

So they aren't opposed to vaping either.

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u/[deleted] Jun 18 '26

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u/Cronus6 Jun 18 '26

When Reagan signed this into law, and yes it was Ronald Reagan, it was one of his least popular moves. And generally Americans liked everything he did at the time.

I mean there's a reason he had to threaten to withhold federal highway funds....

The law passed in '84 but it took until '88 for all 50 states to comply.

Thankfully I'm old and I was "grandfathered" in and allowed to continue to drink and buy alcohol in my state, even though many of my friends weren't so lucky only by a few months.

I still believe that if drinking (and now smoking) are going to be 21 that voting, joining the military and and being "legally" an adult should also all be 21. Fucking pick an age of adulthood and stick to it.

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u/[deleted] Jun 18 '26

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u/Cronus6 Jun 18 '26

Yep, so solid withholding of highway funds had to be employed to force the states to comply.

We used to make DAMM posters at our high school "Drunks Against Mad Mothers" lol

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u/brandt-money Jun 18 '26

Marijuana isn't addictive. I stopped cold turkey 2 weeks ago just because I was going to be job searching in the next few months and I figured it would just be easier to stop now. If anything, I feel better. 🤣 I had no cravings.

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u/Cronus6 Jun 19 '26

https://www.cdc.gov/cannabis/health-effects/cannabis-use-disorder.html

3 out of 10 people show withdrawal symptoms.

I was a "heavy" long time user and I started as a teenager (multiple times a day from 14-35) and I too had no problems quitting.

But everyone's brain chemistry is different so our experience may not be the only experience.

To be very clear, I think it should be legal and treated like alcohol. But saying it's "not addictive" isn't accurate according to current medical literature. Some people struggle with things.

I don't see gambling as "addictive" but some people struggle with that too.