Cannabis News
Trump DOJ Asks Supreme Court For Delayed Schedule In Case On Marijuana Users’ Gun Rights
The Justice Department is asking the US Supreme Court for more time to submit briefs in a case. concerns the constitutionality of the federal ban on gun possession by people who use marijuana and other drugs.
In a Trump administration motion submitted to the court on Thursday, the DOJ said there was mutual agreement between its attorneys and those representing the defendant in the case that the current deadline for filing briefs and reply briefs should be revised due to “press from other cases.”
Currently, the Department of Justice must present its first brief to the court by December 4th, but requests an extension until December 12th. This would extend the defendant’s brief until January 20th.
“If these extensions are granted, the response brief would be February 19, 2026. Both parties agree to this briefing schedule,” U.S. Attorney General D. John Sauer, an appointee of President Donald Trump, said in the motion.
The Trump administration has routinely pursued policies that restrict gun ownership by people who use cannabis, citing state law that “targets a category of people who are at clear risk of firearm misuse” and should be upheld.
After several years of conflicting court rulings on related lawsuits, judges on Monday granted the certificate USA v. to Heman deciding whether the ban — known as Section 922(g)(3) — is consistent with the Second Amendment.
Although the court on Monday declined to take up yet another case on the gun rights of cannabis users, several others are still awaiting the justices’ decision. But the opportunity to take Tabernacle The news will be especially welcome for the Justice Department, which has consistently defended the firearms ban and asked SCOTUS to review the case instead of the alternatives.
This could be related to the fact that the defendant is not only a marijuana user, but also a cocaine user who sold drugs in the past, so the DOJ may have reasoned that he is an unsympathetic face to the problem. In other cases the defendant was found only in possession of a firearm and marijuana.
In June, the attorney general filed a case with the Supreme Court saying that “Section 922(g)(3) violates the Second Amendment” and that the statute “targets a category of people who are clearly at risk of misusing firearms: habitual users of illegal drugs.”
The law “prohibits the possession of firearms only temporarily and leaves it up to them to lift the restriction at any time; anyone who stops using illegal drugs can start owning a firearm,” Sauer said.
Notably, although the government refers to “habitual users” of illegal drugs 40 times, that word itself does not appear in 922(g)(3). The statute’s language prohibits “any person who is an unlawful user or addict of any controlled substance” from purchasing or possessing firearms or ammunition.
In a separate filing for the case in August, the Department of Justice also emphasized that “it is the subject of a submitted question. multi-sided and growing circuit conflict.” In seeking the judge’s certification, the attorney general also noted that the defendant is a joint American-Pakistani with ties to Iranian entities hostile to the United States, putting him on the FBI’s radar.
Now that the Supreme Court has agreed to take it TabernacleIf the justices declare 922(g)(3) constitutional, that ruling could mean a win for the government in the remaining cases. The High Court on Monday denied the writ petition USA v. Cooperpending decisions US v. Daniels and USA v. Sam. The justices had planned to discuss all cases behind closed doors last Friday.
Court also recently He denied a request to certify in another gun and marijuana case, USA v. Baxter, but that wasn’t particularly surprising since both the DOJ and the defendants had advised against pursuing the matter further after a lower court reinstated his conviction for being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm.
A number of federal courts have questioned the legality of Section 922(g)(3) in recent years, and while the general ban on gun possession among drug users is not entirely objectionable, there is little historical precedent for a broad restriction of Second Amendment rights to an entire category of people.
Meanwhile, in recent interviews with Marihuana Moment, several Republican senators shared their views federal ban on possession of firearms by marijuana users—Arguing that alcoholics can legally purchase and use firearms, the same standard should be applied to cannabis users.
Separately, The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit last month He ruled in favor of a federal district court that dismissed an indictment against Jared Michael Harrison, who was indicted in Oklahoma in 2022 after police found cannabis and a gun in his vehicle during a traffic stop.
Now the case has been taken to that lower court, which has determined that the current statute prohibiting “illegal” marijuana users from possessing firearms violates the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
The lower court relied heavily on its initial decision Interpretation of a judgment of the Supreme Court where courts generally created a higher standard for policies seeking to impose restrictions on gun rights.
The ruling indicates that such restrictions must be consistent with the historical context of the original 1791 ratification of the Second Amendment.
The historical analogs the Justice Department relied on to ensure the ban’s consistency included references to outdated case law preventing Catholics, Loyalists, slaves, and Indians from owning guns.
The circuit court, for its part, said that “the government must show that non-intoxicated marijuana users pose a future risk of harm” to uphold the current policy. “This inquiry, which may involve fact-finding, is best suited to the district court.”
Meanwhile, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, judges recently ruled in favor of medical cannabis patients who wish to exercise their Second Amendment rights to own firearms.
as a A recent report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) outlined the current legal landscapeA growing number of federal courts are “finding constitutional problems in applying at least some portions” of the firearms ban.
In a recent ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated defendant’s conviction and remanded the case to the district courtnoting that a retrial before a jury may be necessary to determine whether cannabis made the defendant dangerous or posed a credible threat to others.
The The Third Circuit separately held in a published opinion that district courts must make “individualized judgments” to determine whether 922(g)(3) is constitutional. as applied to private defendants.
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Earlier this year, a federal judge in Rhode Island ruled that the ban was unconstitutional as applied to the two defendantswriting that the government failed to establish a “broad” ban on gun ownership by marijuana users based on historical precedent.
A federal judge in El Paso ruled separately late last year that the government is up and running Banning guns from regular marijuana users is unconstitutional in the case of a defendant who previously pleaded guilty. The court allowed the man to withdraw his plea and ordered the charge against him to be dismissed.
The DOJ has asserted it in several federal cases in recent years statute prohibiting cannabis users from owning or possessing firearms it is constitutional because it is consistent with the history of disarming “dangerous” individuals.
In 2023, for example, the Justice Department told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that historical precedent “comfortably” supports the restriction. Gun-toting cannabis users pose a unique danger to society, the Biden administration says, in part because they are doing so. “unlikely” to store weapons properly.
Meanwhile, some states have passed their own laws that further restrict or try to protect gun rights as they relate to marijuana.
A Pennsylvania lawmaker recently introduced a proposed bill remove state barriers to medical marijuana patients carrying firearms.
Colorado activists also tried to place an initiative on the November ballot that would protect the Second Amendment rights of marijuana users in that state, but The campaign signature collection ultimately fell short.
As 2024 drew to a close, The ATF issued a warning to Kentucky residents that is, if they choose to participate the state’s medical marijuana program to be launched immediatelythey will be prohibited from purchasing or possessing firearms under federal law.
The official said that while people who already own firearms are “not expected” to become sick of the state’s legal cannabis, those who want to “follow federal law and not violate it” must “make the decision to get rid of those firearms.”
Since then, bipartisan lawmakers have been introduced Legislation that would ask Kentucky’s congressional representatives to change federal law to clarify that medical marijuana users can legally own firearms, although no action has since been taken on that bill.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said in January that he supported the legislature’s effort to ask the state’s congressional delegation. Call for federal reforms to protect the Second Amendment rights of medical marijuana patientsbut the governor added that he would like to see even more significant changes at the federal level.
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Malta’s cannabis associations will be able to hold larger stocks of cannabis under new rules introduced last week. While associations were previously only allowed to keep 500g of cannabis, a new legal notice sets different limits depending on the number of members registered with each.
Malta’s largest cannabis associations, with over 350 members, will now be able to sell 3.5kg of cannabis. Between 250 and 350 members will be allowed to possess 2.45 kg of cannabis, and associations registering between 110 and 250 members will be allowed to possess up to 1.75 kg.
Smaller ones will have stricter limits. Associations with less than 100 members will only have 700 g, while those with less than 50 members will have 350 g. Meanwhile, associations are allowed to store the equivalent of an eight-month supply in their cultivation area, calculated at 50g per member.
The new rules do not change how much cannabis a person can carry or consume. Under Malta’s cannabis laws, first introduced at the end of 2021, people can carry up to 7g of cannabis without fear of prosecution. Anyone caught with between 7g and 28g of cannabis will appear in court rather than face charges in a criminal court.
Read more at Maltese times
Cannabis News
Trump Administration ‘Very Anxious’ To Allow Psychedelic Therapy ‘As Quickly As Possible,’ RFK Tells Joe Rogan
The Trump administration is “very eager” to create a pathway for access to psychedelic therapy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. According to the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and senior officials of federal agencies want to “communicate to the public as soon as possible.”
In an interview on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast released Friday, Kennedy said he’s confident “we’re going to get it,” with plans to develop and finalize rules that would allow patients with conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression to access psychedelic substances like psilocybin and MDMA in a “very controlled environment.”
The secretary has been noted for his advocacy of psychedelic reform, an idea he floated as a 2024 Democratic presidential candidate before ultimately becoming the nation’s top health official under the Trump administration.
The president himself has been silent on the issue, but as Kennedy points out, support for expanding access to research and new therapeutics extends beyond HHS, with the heads of the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) also looking to take advantage of the potential benefits of psychedelic drugs.
“Everybody in my agency, and in (Secretary Doug Collins’) agency at the VA, is very eager to get a rule that will allow these types of studies and allow them to go into therapeutic settings, particularly for military personnel who have suffered these injuries to have access to these products,” Kennedy said. “We are working on that process now. We are all working and trying to make it happen.”
“I think we’ll make it.”
While some of the reform proposals being considered would be designed to “encourage more clinical trials” while having “very strong guidelines,” the health secretary said the agencies are interested in the full range of options that could include psychedelic therapies and other “rapid interventions.” One of Kennedy’s personal goals would be to validate the utility of substances like psilocybin over SSRIs for depression.
“We’re looking at that as a whole category of interventions that people should be able to look at and have appropriate access to, and we should roll it out as quickly as possible,” he said.
“This is what we’re anticipating, so I can’t tell you exactly what we’re going to do, but very, very strong therapeutic guidelines, so how they’re applied, what kind of follow-up. Because a lot of these things rewire the brain. If you don’t follow-up, it doesn’t work, or you have a failure rate. So we’re developing all of those things and I think we’re developing protocols. People in the administration are eager to do that as soon as possible. I know Doug Collins is doing 21 studies at the VA that they are doing, that they are very promising.
“You need those guidelines because you don’t want to do the Wild West. You can have horror stories overnight because some people can have very, very bad experiences,” Kennedy said. “We’re looking at ways to do it so it’s in a very controlled environment.”
Asked to expand on how Rogan sees the future of psychedelic therapies and whether it will include people in the military or other non-frontline roles, the secretary said he would “personally” like to see broad access, but “we have to take baby steps because you don’t want to create a situation where people want to get hurt.”
However, “you shouldn’t have a soldier who has given everything for the country, who has suffered terribly, who has come to Tijuana to receive these treatments, leave our country to receive treatments,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“I’ve seen so much overwhelming anecdotal evidence,” Kennedy said, emphasizing that one of his relatives has benefited from psychedelic therapy“but also clinical studies that verify the effect.” And officials at agencies like the NIH and FDA are “doing everything they can to make that happen.”
Rogan’s podcast interview comes a month after the release of a book by a reporter who allegedly had a romantic relationship with Kennedy, in which, as a presidential candidate, Kennedy still used psychedelics like DMT for “fun” and hid his drug use from his wife.
Meanwhile, in November, Kennedy, Vice President JD Vance, FDA Commissioner and other Trump administration officials attended the “Make America Healthy Again” summit. it was a session dedicated to studying psychedelic medicine.
In June, Kennedy said that his agency “Fully committed” to expanding research into the benefits of psychedelic therapy. and, along with the head of the FDA, aims to give military veterans legal access to these substances “within 12 months.”
The secretary also said that in April He had a “wonderful experience” with LSD at the age of 15He took it because he thought they would be able to see dinosaurs, as depicted in a comic he was a fan of.
Last October, Kennedy specifically criticized the FDA under the previous administration for the agency’s “eradication of psychedelics” and a laundry list of other issues that he said was a “war on public health” that would end under the Trump administration.
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At the latest edition of Indoor Ag-Con, Jeremy Shechter focused his presentation on how data collection should work as an operational tool in commercial cannabis cultivation.
Jeremy, founder of Open Source Horticulture, opened by challenging a common assumption within the cultivation community. “We’re not as good as we think we are,” he said, pointing to the gap between perceived performance and what can actually be demonstrated. Without data, he argued, operators tend to rely on preconceptions rather than evidence.
Genetics, Jeremy explains, cannot be evaluated in isolation. “Genetics don’t just happen in a vacuum,” he said. In other words, data collection becomes the only reliable way to understand how genetics behaves in different rooms, facilities and operating conditions.
Profit figures alone, he adds, rarely tell the whole story. Teams may be able to articulate a number, but struggle to explain how that result was achieved. “Show me the dashboard,” Jeremy said, describing situations where performance claims fall apart because historical data is not available or cannot be accessed. In those cases, memory fills the void, even though, as he said, “our memory is very bad.”
© Eelkje Pulley | MMJDaily.com
The importance of setting goals
Jeremy envisioned data as a mechanism that allows teams to move toward defined goals. “One of the most important drivers for people is moving toward a goal,” he said, and progress is only seen when it’s measured consistently. Without solid data, goals remain abstract.
A recurring point in the presentation was the need for moderation. To illustrate this, he quoted Leonardo Da Vinci: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” Jeremy said, describing the tendency to overcomplicate data systems. He argued that not all data is worth collecting, and that excessive measurement often creates noise rather than insight.
Deciding what data matters, Jeremy insists, should not be left to chance. “Data is not created equal,” he said, “teams can easily spend time collecting information that doesn’t impact results. KPI selection should be driven by leadership and tied directly to business performance, then clearly communicated to crop managers.”
Entrepreneurship then becomes the key. “If a data point doesn’t inform a decision, it shouldn’t be treated with the same rigor.” Jeremy used room pressure as an example, explaining that while deviations from a set point can indicate a problem, they don’t necessarily correspond to long-term performance tracking. In other words, trends are more important than isolated readings.
Data collection systems
Jeremy also discussed the structure of effective data collection systems. “It has to be top to bottom,” he said, describing the need to follow every step of the process from cultivation to packaging. “Those systems have to be custom built for each facility.” He again emphasized the importance of keeping it simple and easy. “If you want to keep doing something, keep calm,” Jeremy said. Adding steps to any process increases friction and reduces compliance, whether in cultivation or data entry.
Paper-based workflows were highlighted as a persistent problem. Jeremy described the operations involved in entering data and then transferring it to a computer, a process he noted is inefficient and error-prone. Fully digitized systems, using tablets or mobile devices, were presented as a basic requirement for reliable data access.
Towards the end of the session, Jeremy touched on how data influences decisions beyond crop metrics. He noted that some cultivars can produce high yields but perform poorly after drying, becoming brittle or difficult to handle. Without tracking these results, operators run the risk of optimizing for numbers that don’t translate into finished product performance.
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