The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the federal law barring unlawful drug users from possessing firearms does not apply to casual marijuana users [1].

This decision removes a significant federal barrier for millions of people in states where cannabis is legal or tolerated, fundamentally altering how the Second Amendment is applied to drug users [4].

The ruling came on June 18, 2026, following a challenge brought by a man from Texas [2, 5]. The justices said that applying the federal ban to casual marijuana users overreached the existing statute and infringed upon the constitutional right to keep and bear arms [1, 4].

The Court issued the decision in a unanimous nine-zero vote [1]. By siding with the Texas plaintiff, the justices said the government cannot use a broad drug-use prohibition to restrict gun ownership for all individuals who use cannabis [3].

While the ruling is a victory for firearm advocates and cannabis users, the justices said the decision was a "narrow" ruling [6]. This phrasing suggests the Court intended to address the specific application of the law to casual users rather than striking down the entirety of the federal drug-possession ban [6].

The ruling specifically targets the government's ability to ban all drug users from owning guns based on the current interpretation of the federal statute [3]. It establishes that the federal government's restriction on gun ownership cannot be applied indiscriminately to those who use marijuana casually [2].

“The Court ruled that the federal law barring unlawful drug users from possessing firearms does not apply to casual marijuana users.”

This ruling creates a legal carve-out for casual cannabis users under federal firearm laws, effectively decoupling marijuana use from the automatic disqualification for gun ownership. By framing the decision as 'narrow,' the Court avoids a total dismantling of federal drug-related firearm restrictions while signaling that Second Amendment rights cannot be stripped based on the use of a substance that is increasingly legal at the state level.