Former New York Jets player Marvin Washington has joined a lawsuit against the Attorney General of the United States over federal laws outlawing the possession and use of marijuana.
Currently, a handful of states have legalized marijuana, but the federal government never repealed its laws making the drug illegal, and the lawsuit is targeting that dichotomy, Daily Caller reported.
Washington, a defensive end who was drafted by the New York Jets in 1989 and played pro football for a decade, has joined the lawsuit filed against the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration aimed at scuttling the federal prohibition against pot.
The lawsuit challenges the 1970 Controlled Substance Act (CSA) that puts marijuana in the same class as drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and other illegal substances.
The paperwork filed claims that “classifying cannabis as a ‘Schedule I drug,’ is so irrational that it violates the U.S. Constitution.”
A lawyer filing the lawsuit for Washington and several other plaintiffs said the rules don’t “make any rational sense” and further alleges that “the federal government knows it.”
Several of the plaintiffs joined the suit because they use pot for its medicinal properties of pain abatement. As to Washington, the former NFL player said he wants the federal government to end the prohibition against pot to allow Americans to file for permits to run marijuana dispensaries in every state instead of having to wait for state laws to be changed.
Washington also maintains that the drug laws prevent him from having access to small business loans and other government services for his pot selling venture.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has previously said that he is no fan of the recent expansion of legalized pot seen in so many states.
Indeed, in February, Sessions insisted that there is far more drug violence surrounding marijuana.
“Experts are telling me there’s more violence around marijuana than one would think,” Sessions told the media in February.
Sessions continued, saying “I am definitely not a fan of expanded use of marijuana. But states, they can pass the laws they choose. I would just say, it does remain a violation of federal law to distribute marijuana throughout any place in the United States, whether a state legalizes it or not.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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