A coalition of anti-marijuana organizations is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to side with the federal government by upholding the constitutionality of a federal ban on gun ownership by people who use cannabis—which they claim is associated with violence and psychosis.
In an amicus brief submitted to justices on Monday for a marijuana and firearms case, U.S. v. Hemani, Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and 21 other prohibitionist groups said that while cannabis is “marketed as a ‘chill’ drug by its peddlers,” today’s product has “become increasingly known for its relationship with violence.”
“Given the shared national work amici are doing to stop the flow of drugs and their harms to society, they have a strong interest in laws restricting drug users’ access to firearms,” the brief said. “The evidence is clear: today’s highly potent marijuana causes psychosis, schizophrenia, other forms of severe mental illness, and violent behavior.”
It added that if the federal statute known as 922(g)(3) is deemed unconstitutional—as multiple federal courts have determined in the lead-up to SCOTUS taking the Hemani case—would “magnify these harms exponentially and devastate America’s families.”
The overarching argument of the brief is the idea that marijuana is strongly linked to mental illness,
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