District Attorney Rob Greene is wasting little time starting his advocacy work.

Greene’s lawsuit against the federal government has no bearing on his ability to prosecute drug cases in Warren County. Greene long ago stopped prosecuting minor marijuana possession cases, choosing instead to focus on cases involving methamphetamine, fentanyl, heroin and others.

The lawsuit he brings, though, asks an interesting question – why should the possession of a medical marijuana card preclude Rob Greene from legally owning and possessing a firearm? Greene hasn’t yet been convicted of a crime that would otherwise make him ineligible to own a firearm.

He hasn’t been involved in any incident that calls into question his ability to be both a medical marijuana license holder and, at the same time, a gun owner.

Greene becomes an interesting test case, in our view, of the federal government’s marijuana prohibitions and the conflict they cause in states where both medical marijuana is legal and where marijuana use is legal without medical reason.

We had hoped the district attorney’s advocacy work would wait until next year when he is no longer in office. But we also can understand why Greene decided to file his lawsuit now. It carries less weight when Greene is simply a marijuana advocate.

The case garners bigger headlines and more attention when a sitting district attorney challenges federal law. That’s especially true in this age of gridlock at the federal level. If someone wants to change the law, the courts are a good place to start.