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by Andrew Mobley
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KATV) — The federal government has recently reclassified medical marijuana as a Schedule 3 drug, recognizing its use in healthcare and putting it in the same category as some opioids and barbiturates.
The rescheduling has raised the question, can medical marijuana cardholders now purchase firearms and hold concealed carry permits?
The best answer KATV can give you now is: it looks like that's the direction the federal government is going, but things are still very much up in the air right now.
By reclassifying medical marijuana as a Schedule 3 drug three weeks ago, the Department of Justice has put it in the same category as widely used prescription pain medications like Suboxone or codeine, lawful users of which are not barred from purchasing guns or acquiring concealed carry permits.
Arkansas passed Act 757 in 2023, which tried to allow medical marijuana patients to get those permits, but the ATF did not recognize it as legal.
Officials at Good Day Farms, the largest dispensary operator in Arkansas, believe that law can now take effect and medical marijuana patients should also be able to buy a gun.
"The most important thing is it just recognizes that marijuana for medical use. We do anticipate state medical card holders in places like Arkansas to be treated like any other citizen or any other patient of any other drug, which would not disqualify them from possession of firearms," said Nate Steel, chief regulatory officer for Good Day Farm.
That's exciting news for many medical marijuana patients in Arkansas, who so far have had to choose between their Second Amendment rights and medication.
"We live on a farm. There are critters that come around all the time. If I want to buy a new shotgun to protect my livestock, I should be allowed to do it but because I'm a marijuana patient, I can't. I had to give up my concealed card too," Saline County medical marijuana patient and advocate Melissa Fults told KATV.
But is it too soon to celebrate?
When you buy a gun from a federally licensed dealer, you have to fill out this firearm transaction form, which asks if you unlawfully use marijuana- the recreational or medical use of which is unlawful under federal law. Checking yes disqualifies you from buying a gun. Lying is perjury.
After the rescheduling, the ATF put out a new draft form that strikes medical marijuana from that disqualifier. But the old form is still in effect, at least until the draft's public comment period ends in July.
"The ATF form hasn't changed yet. So, any card holder that goes out to purchase a weapon today, they're going to be signing a form that says that marijuana is not lawful in any form, whether recreational or medical. So, I think there are still legitimate risks for proceeding at this point," said Eli Bauer, a partner at Wright Lindsey Jennings and counsel for the Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association.
The Department of Justice was prompted to reschedule medical marijuana by an executive order from President Trump in December. Some are concerned that even if there is a policy change on marijuana and guns, it may not last.
"The problem with an executive order is whoever comes in next if they don't want it to be legal bam it can be pulled immediately and that kind of leaves the patients on really shaky ground," Fults said.
KATV recommends that, if you're a cardholder, wait on trying to buy a gun, at the very least until that draft ATF form is made official.
Again, that schedule change by the Department of Justice is in effect for FDA or state-approved medical marijuana, not for recreational marijuana, which may also see a schedule change depending on the outcome of a hearing on June 29.
2026 Sinclair, Inc.