Pubdate: Wed, 01 Aug 2012
Source: Verde Independent (AZ)
Copyright: 2012 Western News & Info, Inc
Contact: http://verdenews.com/Formlayout.asp?formcall=userform&form=1
Website: http://verdenews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4433
Author: Sheila Polk

ARIZONA'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA PROGRAM: FACTS TELL REAL STORY

Arizona's Medical Marijuana Act was narrowly passed by the voters in
November of 2010. The Director of the Arizona Department of Health
Services states that we have a "model" program, and that the
demographics of the card users show the "vast majority are
legitimately accessing the system." (Az. Republic 7/20/12)

Do the facts really support these claims?

ADHS has issued 30,550 medical marijuana patient cards. Only 1,275 of
the cards are for cancer; 27,330 of the cards are for self-defined
chronic pain. Interestingly, 74 percent of the patient cards have been
issued to males; 26 percent to females. Forty-seven percent of the
cards have been issued to users between the ages of 18 and 40.

Within about three weeks, ADHS will license 126 dispensaries in
Arizona; each dispensary can also grow marijuana at a second off-site
location. Thirteen applications were received to operate dispensaries
in north Tempe, the location of ASU.

There is no limit to the amount of marijuana a dispensary may grow or
sell. Dispensaries are also permitted to sell marijuana to other
dispensaries, and prepare and sell food products infused with marijuana.

While ADHS moves forward full speed ahead to license the cultivation
of marijuana, the Department of Justice is moving just as fast to
seize medical marijuana dispensaries in other states, asserting the
supremacy of the federal Controlled Substances Act ("CSA").

In California, the U.S. Attorney recently seized the Oakland and San
Jose locations of the Harborside Health Center, adding to the list of
dispensaries already shut down by the federal government in that
state. It is only a matter of time before the same dispensaries
licensed by Arizona officials will be shut down by our U.S. Attorney.

The Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution provides that
federal law "shall be the supreme Law of the Land." Under this
principle, state laws that conflict with federal law are preempted.
The United States Supreme Court has ruled, in Gonzales v. Raich, that
state medical marijuana laws are preempted by the federal CSA.

Although states may lawfully choose to exempt marijuana from state
criminal liability, they cannot affirmatively authorize a use that
federal law prohibits. Any use of marijuana remains a crime under
federal law, as does the facilitation of those acts. There is no
immunity in the CSA for Arizona officials for issuing medical
marijuana licenses.

Is this really "medical" marijuana when 4 percent of the cards are for
individuals with cancer and 88 percent for chronic pain? Does it make
medical sense that 74 percent of the "patients" are male? Is our law
really a model when it allows the cultivation of marijuana by
dispensaries in unlimited amounts?

Is it a model program when state officials license the use of
marijuana directly in conflict with federal law? Lastly, what kind of
model program has one arm of the government licensing dispensaries
while another arm of government is shutting them down?

Sheila Polk is the Yavapai County Attorney and Co-Chair of MATForce,
the Yavapai County Substance Abuse Coalition.
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MAP posted-by: Matt