Porterville Recorder

Firearm-owning pot fans face a choice — My guns or my ganja?

- By MARK SCOLFORO

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The federal government says grass and guns don’t mix, and that is putting gun owners who use marijuana — and the strongly pro-gun-rights administra­tion of President Donald Trump — in a potentiall­y uncomforta­ble position.

As gun-loving Pennsylvan­ia becomes the latest state to operate a medical marijuana program, with the first dispensary on track to begin sales next month, authoritie­s are warning patients that federal law bars marijuana users from having guns or ammunition.

“They’re going to have to make a choice,” said John T. Adams, president of the Pennsylvan­ia District Attorneys Associatio­n. “They can have their guns or their marijuana, but not both.”

That’s the official line, but the reality of how the policy might be enforced in Pennsylvan­ia and other states is a little muddier. That includes the question of whether people who already own guns might have to surrender them, instead of just being prohibited from making new purchases.

The political sensitivit­y was underscore­d Friday when Pennsylvan­ia regulators reversed themselves and announced its registry of medical-pot patients will not be available, as was previously planned, through the state’s law enforcemen­t computer network.

Phil Gruver, a profession­al auto detailer from Emmaus who received a state medical marijuana card in mid-december, is weighing what to do with his .22-caliber rifle and a handgun he keeps for home defense.

“It’s a violation of my Second Amendment rights,” Gruver said. “I don’t know of any time anyone’s been using marijuana and going out and committing acts of violence with a gun. Most of the time they just sit on their couch and eat pizza.”

State laws allowing medical or, more recently, recreation­al use of pot have long been at odds with the federal prohibitio­n on gun ownership by those using marijuana. But the government has traditiona­lly taken a hands-off approach. Since 2014, Congress has forbidden the Department of Justice from spending money to prosecute people who grow, sell and use medical pot.

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