Medical marijuana is now legal in Illinois, and more and more patients are starting to sign up as patients now that medical marijuana sales have begun at dispensaries. It took a long time, and a lot of hurdle jumping, but there is finally legal safe access to medical marijuana in Illinois. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t still bumps in the road, proven by the recent mailing of erroneous letters telling medical marijuana patients in Illinois that they would have to give up their guns because they are medical marijuana patients. Per PJ Star:
Nearly two years after Illinois decided medical marijuana users shouldn’t be prohibited from owning guns, several patients received letters from state police telling them their firearms cards were being revoked.
Although the agency insists the letters were sent to just four people before the mistake was corrected, some cannabis supporters say the error signifies an underlying ambivalence about medical marijuana in the 23 states where it’s now legal.
For example, a checklist for firearm owners on the Illinois State Police website includes this requirement: “I am not a medical marijuana patient registry card holder.” That, too, was an error that a vendor is now working to remove from the site, ISP spokesman Matt Boerwinkle said.
These ‘oversights’ are inexcusable. As an attorney went on to say in the article I linked to above, Illinois State Police shouldn’t be so careless with people’s rights. There’s obviously no way to prove it, but there are more than a few people suggesting that this was done intentionally to try to trample on the rights of patients. There was a somewhat similar battle in Oregon a few years ago. Anti-marijuana Sheriffs were denying concealed weapons permits for medical marijuana patients. The Oregon Supreme Court decided such actions were unconstitutional. The United States Supreme Court refused to review the case.
