Over the years since our country was founded, there have been a number of movements that the populace has eventually rallied around and fought for. We’ve had our initial fight for freedom against Great Britain. The fight against slavery. The fight for civil rights. More recently, the fight for gay marriage. Each of these moments in American history had its opponents. Sometimes these opponents have attacked other constitutional rights in a balls to the wall effort to carry the day, no matter what freedom is infringed upon.
So it is with the legalization movement. More recently, in the state of Illinois, nearly two years after a decision was reached that medical marijuana users could own firearms, four residents and medical users were told by the state that their firearms licenses would be taken away. The agency sending the letters has spoken out about this and rescinded those letters. It also removed language on its website asking firearm owners if they were medical marijuana card holders. The state police agency responsible for this claims that this was all a mistake. However, Tyler Anthony, with the Canna Law Group states the following,” The opposite is probably true. Even taking their word for it, they shouldn’t be careless with citizens’ constitutional rights, especially when their position lacks any clear legal basis.”
The movement to legalize cannabis has its roots in our constitutional freedoms. It doesn’t surprise anyone that there are those opposing the will of the people in this area who would be willing to usurp other constitutional rights in an effort to win the day, or make sure that Big Pharma continues to be paid. The movement has made significant strides in the past few years, but the incident in Illinois reminds us that the struggle is still ongoing, that some are willing to encroach on our freedoms in other ways to influence final outcomes, and that we need to be vocal and vigilant. We won’t accept anything less than a final and full legalization without any retaliation or penalty elsewhere. Period.
Source- Associated Press, Chicago.
