Louisiana is now one of thirty states in the U.S. that has approved medical marijuana in some form.
While dispensaries won’t be opening until later this year, patients in the state that qualify for the drug under Louisiana’s law will have to decide between purchasing a gun or using marijuana.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is firmly sticking to a stance that was published in a 2011 memo that addressed the issue.
The Controlled Substance Act prohibits anyone who is an “unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance from shipping, transporting, receiving, or possessing firearms or ammunition.”
According to the ATF memo, “any person who uses or is addicted to marijuana, regardless of whether his or her state has passed legislation authorizing marijuana use for medicinal purposes, is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance and is prohibited by Federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition.”