“Unlawfully using controlled substances is a prohibited act under federal law.”
By Michael Moline of the Florida Phoenix
The Florida Supreme Court is examining a case that was filed to determine if the Department of Corrections fired an officer for using medical marijuana when he wasn’t working.
Florida’s First District Court of Appeal has upheld the firing. But Samuel Velez Ortiz is now arguing before the State Supreme Court that this action violates the Florida Constitution sanctioning medical marijuana as well as recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings establishing a wide right to carry firearms.
The state Public Employees Relation Commission confirmed the termination, reasoning that the federal law against the use of marijuana rendered him ineligible to carry a gun – a condition of employment – under the federal law.
The attorneys for Velez Ortiz cited the 2022 case New York State Rifle Pistol v. Bruen in their petition to the state Supreme Court. In that case, the Washington justices established a right of the public to carry firearms out of the house for self-defense. In subsequent rulings, a federal judge in Oklahoma as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Fifth Circuit affirmed the right of sober people to carry firearms even if they smoked pot at other times.
It says: “This lower court [First DCA]’s opinion allows a sanction for medical marijuana patients. This results in loss employment for being qualified and strips a persons right to bear arms because they are qualified.” The opinion says that because he uses marijuana for medical purposes, he is not allowed to possess a gun. “Each time he does it, he commits a crime.”
In the brief, Velez Ortiz is noted as a medical marijuana user due to his PTSD. He also never worked under the influence. Random drug tests revealed cannabis metabolites.
In 2016, Florida voters added an amendment to their state constitution that allows marijuana to be used to treat certain conditions. The state regulates marijuana’s sale and cultivation.
The state’s reply brief was filed on Thursday. It notes that federal law makes it illegal for “prohibited persons” to possess a gun…and prohibited persons also include those who are using marijuana or other controlled substances in violation of the Controlled Substances Act.
The court continued: “And because Florida law requires corrections officers also to possess good moral characters, which includes not engaging in felony conduct, the Court determined that petitioner couldn’t use medicinal marijuana and retain his certification as an corrections officer.”
Velez Ortiz is the case in Velez Ortiz V. Florida Department of Corrections.
He , reportedly, began working for this department in 2013. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs diagnosed him with combat related post-traumatic disorder. Velez Ortiz’s employment history is not clear in the record of the Supreme Court.
The Florida Phoenix published this story first.
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The post Florida’s Attorney General defends firing of a corrections officer for using medical marijuana to treat PTSD first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
