At a time when the Attorney General wants to crack down rather than relax marijuana laws, a former Jets player is part of a lawsuit naming Jeff Sessions, the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Agency.
According to Julia Marsh of the New York Post, former Jets defensive lineman Marvin Washington is one of five plaintiffs suing to decriminalize marijuana. Other of the plaintiffs include an 11-year-old epilepsy patient who needs medical marijuana treatment and a disabled military veteran using the drug to control his post traumatic stress syndrome.
Washington is suing because the law prevents him from receiving federal grants to open a medical marijuana business, in hopes of allowing football players to find a pain management path without opioids.
The suit challenges the constitutionality of the 1970 Controlled Substance Act, which lists marijuana as a Schedule I drug along with heroin and LSD, while meth and cocaine are more benignly listed as Schedule II drugs.
“The record makes clear that the CSA doesn’t make any rational sense and the federal government knows it,” attorney Michael Hiller said.
Washington played eight seasons with the Jets, won a Super Bowl ring with the Broncos in 1998 and spent two years with the 49ers.