Pubdate: Wed, 01 Dec 2010
Source: Sun, The (Yuma, AZ)
Copyright: 2010 The Sun
Contact: http://www.yumasun.com/sections/opinion/submit-letters/
Website: http://www.yumasun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1258
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

IS IT ETHICAL FOR LAWYERS TO HELP WITH POT LAW?

Arizona attorneys who help clients navigate some of the legal 
intricacies of the state's new medical marijuana law will apparently 
be violating the ethical requirements for attorneys.

Or at least that is the opinion of Patricia Sallen, ethics counsel 
for the State Bar of Arizona, who looked at the issue of whether it 
would be OK for attorneys licensed in Arizona to help those trying to 
take advantage of the law by either trying to set up marijuana 
dispensaries or trying to obtain a doctor's recommendation to use 
marijuana for medical purposes.

She says these kinds of proactive steps by attorneys will violate an 
ethical rule established by the Arizona Supreme Court that states "a 
lawyer shall not counsel a client to engage, or assist a client, in 
conduct that the lawyer knows is criminal or fraudulent."

She said selling or possessing marijuana is still illegal under 
federal law - even though the new state law approved by voters Nov. 2 
makes medical use of marijuana legal in the state - so helping 
clients would be unethical.

This seems like a curious stand, however, since the federal 
government itself apparently does not view medical marijuana use 
authorized by state laws as a problem. It has not challenged similar 
laws in more than a dozen other states that have them, including California.

If the federal government doesn't care, why should the Arizona Bar?

Even more curious is her uncertainty about whether it would be OK for 
an attorney to represent someone in court in regard to the marijuana law.

Don't lawyers represent lawbreakers who are murderers, rapists, child 
molesters and so on? Yet someone trying to follow a law approved by 
the voters of the state is unworthy of an attorney's help?

These are awfully strange ethical rules for attorneys.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom