Warren County DA cannot have guns because he uses medical marijuana. He is suing feds
As Warren County district attorney, Rob Greene is the chief elected law enforcement official in his jurisdiction, but federal law prohibits him from possessing guns.
The reason for the ban, he said in newly filed federal lawsuit, is because he obtained a medical marijuana card in May 2023 and uses cannabis for health reasons.
Greene is going to court to try to change the situation. He is challenging the federal prohibition on gun ownership by medical marijuana users.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Erie on Tuesday, Greene and the nonprofit Second Amendment Foundation, based in Washington state, sued the United States government, Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Steven M. Dettelbach, the head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Greene and the foundation want a federal judge to enjoin the government and the other defendants from enforcing laws that "would impede or criminalize" the ability of him and others like him from "exercising their right to keep and bear arms" while using medical marijuana.
Greene's case has the potential to influence the law well beyond Warren County, which is in the jurisdiction of U.S. District Court in Erie, part of the Pittsburgh-based U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Greene is suing over a national policy that he claims violates his Second Amendment right to bear arms.
"Medicinal marijuana has been adopted by 38 states despite federal inaction on the issue,” the executive director of the Second Amendment Foundation, Adam Kraut, said in a statement. “With the increasing acceptance of medical cannabis, millions of Americans are forced to choose between the exercise of their Second Amendment rights or treating their symptoms with a substance that disenfranchises them from their constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms.
"Such a choice is incompatible with the constitution and finds no basis in this country’s history and tradition. We look forward to vindicating the rights of medical marijuana users.”
Greene is not seeking reelection as he focuses on advocacy
The defendants will get a chance to respond to the lawsuit in court. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon, who is based in Pittsburgh but hears some Erie cases.
Greene, a Republican, was elected district attorney of Warren County in 2013. He announced in December that he will not seek reelection to fourth term after his current four-year term expires in 2025 so that he can focus on advocating for marijuana legalization and regulation.
Greene revealed in December that he has used cannabis “mostly my entire life” and that he recently obtained a medical marijuana card for Pennsylvania. Greene in December described himself in a news release as a “freedom-loving, 2nd Amendment, small government Republican." He said he's long been an advocate of adult-use cannabis legalization and regulation and admitted his use of marijuana was in violation of “draconian” federal law.
"Twelve years of working for the government is enough,” Greene stated in the release. “I feel I can better represent the people and make a larger impact on freedom in the private sector.”
Greene now is trying to make an impact in the federal court system, even as he remains district attorney for Warren, a largely rural county of about 38,000 people east of Erie County in the northwestern corner of the state.
Greene contends that he and medical marijuana users should be able to carry firearms without fear of federal prosecution.
Greene, the lawsuit claims, "is a responsible, law-abiding, peaceable citizen with no history of violent behavior or other conduct that would suggest he poses any threat or danger."
However, the suit claims, "Greene is currently abstaining from attempting to purchase, possess and utilize a firearm and/or ammunition for fear of arrest, prosecution, incarceration and/or fine" under federal law.
Well-known Erie lawyer is a member of Greene's legal team
Kraut, the head of the Second Amendment Foundation, in Bellevue, Washington, across from Seattle, is representing Greene as a lawyer licensed to practice in Pennsylvania. Greene's other lawyer in the lawsuit is Joshua Prince, of Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania, east of Reading. Prince specializes in gun-rights litigation.
Leonard Ambrose, a veteran criminal defense lawyer based in Erie, said he is representing Greene in case he faces "any type of criminal prosecution" for firearms violations related to his use of medical marijuana.
"We just want to put them on notice," Ambrose of those who might charge Greene with crimes.
Ambrose said the civil suit will probe what he said are the incongruities of federal law in relation to medical marijuana use and firearms possession. He said he disagrees that marijuana remains a Schedule I drug, along with drugs like heroin, under the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration regulations.
Ambrose said someone whose house "is filled with alcohol" can legally possess a firearm, but that someone who has a medical prescription to use marijuana cannot.
"It is the absurdity of the whole thing that is the basis of the lawsuit," Ambrose said in an interview. "It is absurd."
Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Warren Co. DA sues over gun ban for medical marijuana users like him
