Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jun 2011 Source: Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, AZ) Copyright: 2011 Arizona Daily Star Contact: http://www.azstarnet.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/23 Author: Howard Fischer. Capitol Media MEDI-POT ATTORNEYS SEEKING TO FORCE ISSUE 2 Dispensaries' Lawyers Want Court to Order Acceptance Of Applications PHOENIX - Attorneys for two owners of would-be marijuana dispensaries went to court Tuesday in a bid to force the Department of Health Services to accept and process their applications. The lawsuits contend that the agency and its director, Will Humble, are violating the mandate by voters to license 125 shops to sell marijuana to Arizonans entitled to purchase it as medicine. They want an order compelling Humble to proceed with the licensing. But Humble said he and Gov. Jan Brewer are refusing to proceed based on advice from Attorney General Tom Horne. Horne contends the medical-marijuana law voters approved in November may conflict with federal statutes that make it a felony to sell, possess or transport marijuana. Horne questions whether having state employees processing dispensary applications leaves them liable for helping others violate federal law. Humble will not even make blank applications available. "That's a violation of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act," said Ken Frakes, an attorney in one of the lawsuits filed in Maricopa County Superior Court. Frakes said the law requires the health department to adopt rules to license dispensaries. And those rules, he noted, spell out applications were supposed to be accepted beginning June 1. Refusing to even accept applications, he said, "thwarts the will of the voters in this state." In a separate legal action, attorney David Dow is asking the Arizona Court of Appeals to order Humble to start accepting applications within 30 days. Horne said he is doing nothing wrong by advising the law be put on hold while he waits to hear from a federal judge on whether the state can implement its medical-marijuana law despite federal statutes. No date has been set for the hearing. Dow said what is going on in federal court is irrelevant. He pointed out state courts in California have already have concluded that having state employees issuing medical-pot permits does not violate federal law. Frakes also said it makes no sense to wait for that federal court case to proceed. He predicted the federal judge will refuse to rule on the issue, as the state is simply asking for what amounts to an advisory ruling. Frakes said that only when a medical-marijuana user or dispensary owner is being prosecuted under federal drug laws would the case be considered "ripe" for ruling. The law approved by voters last November entitles anyone with a doctor's recommendation to obtain up to 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks. It requires the health department to license dispensaries, which also would have the legal right to cultivate their own marijuana or purchase it from another. Both attorneys said their clients already have invested substantial sums in their bids to get one or more of the 125 dispensary permits authorized under the law. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.