Mention medical marijuana and all the tough talk about states' rights goes up in smoke. At least when it comes to Gov. Jan Brewer, Attorney General Tom Horne and some of the other politicians who claim to champion the authority of individual states. Earlier this year, Brewer railed against "an overreaching federal government" for challenging Arizona's immigration measures and added, "Never during our nearly 100 years of statehood has federal interference in ... Arizona affairs ... been more blatant than in 2010." [continues 562 words]
Dispensaries Can't Open, So Options Are Emerging Medical-marijuana dispensaries can't yet operate in Arizona pending a judge's ruling on Proposition 203. But that doesn't necessarily keep cardholders from finding pot. At least a handful of clubs that provide patients with medical marijuana have opened up in the Valley to fill that void. Because the new state law allows most medical-marijuana cardholders to grow their own pot and share it with each other - as long as there are no dispensaries near - these clubs have developed as a go-between. [continues 1349 words]
You could soon have a marijuana club down the block or around the corner. An entrepreneur in the state's nascent medical marijuana industry has found what he believes is a loophole in the law that restricts the distribution of the drug to just 125 specially licensed dispensaries. Allan Sobol already has opened his first club in north Phoenix and has plans with his business partners to expand elsewhere. But the exception Sobol has found means more than the possibility of these clubs showing up in every strip mall. It also gets around the fact that health officials are refusing to even accept applications for those who want to operate one of those limited number of heavily regulated dispensaries. [continues 915 words]
PHOENIX -- You could soon have a marijuana club down the block or around the corner. An entrepreneur in the state's nascent medical marijuana industry has found what he believes is a loophole in the law that restricts the distribution of the drug to just 125 specially licensed dispensaries. Allan Sobol already has opened his first club in North Phoenix and has plans with his business partners to expand elsewhere. But the exception Sobol has found means more than the possibility of these clubs showing up in every strip mall. It also gets around the fact that health officials are refusing to even accept applications for those who want to operate one of those limited number of heavily regulated dispensaries. [continues 923 words]
One of the defining moments of the latest war on medical marijuana in Arizona came last month when Gilbert SWAT officers raided the home of a patient suspected of having a single ounce of weed. Ross Taylor's not only a bona fide, card-holding patient under the law, he also is the owner of the Cannabis Screening Centers, a business that hooks up people with doctors willing to recommend the use of marijuana. He's a marijuana advocate, and he's a professional in what, since November, has been a legal industry. In April, he spoke about his business before the Gilbert Planning and Zoning Department. On June 9, he was in the process of moving into his new home in south Gilbert, near Higley and Riggs roads. He'd taken title to the home a day earlier; online records show that it was sold on June 8 for $262,200. [continues 6364 words]
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery will join in on the state's request for a declaratory judgment on medical marijuana. The county Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 Thursday morning to authorize Montgomery to file a motion to join the case, which seeks clarification on Arizona's medical-marijuana law and its implications on state and local employees. Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox was not present at the meeting. Montgomery advised the supervisors in a private meeting Thursday morning, urging them to take action to express the county's position against medical pot. Montgomery said he is concerned about potential federal backlash on county employees in implementing the state's medical-marijuana act, which voters approved last November. [continues 127 words]
The county Planning and Zoning Commission said at Wednesday's [July 13] meeting it will determine whether or not to approve three requests for special use permits by applicants wanting to grow marijuana. Of the three applications, only two are recommended for approval; one on East Redwing Lane in Huachuca City and one at 2941 Old Coyote in Cochise. Applicant Julia Patten is likely to have her request denied for a permit to legally operate a growing facility on her 4.85-acre parcel at 3516 W. La Luna Drive in a residential area northwest of Douglas. [continues 656 words]
Following a public hearing on June 28, the city Planning and Zoning Commission approved two conditional use permit applications for medical marijuana dispensaries in Benson. The conditional use approval is just the first step in a long process that will need to go through the Arizona Department of Health Services. "This is a competitive process where the state will approve one application within a Community Health Analysis Area," said Michelle Johnson, a technician for Benson's Planning and Zoning Commission. "There are about 126 of these health analysis zones across the state, with one medical marijuana dispensary for each zone." [continues 581 words]
Several recent Gilbert police investigations have ended with masked Gilbert officers carting away marijuana plants and jars of pot from medical-marijuana prescription cardholders. Department officials, however, say they are not targeting the patients. Controversy last month followed Gilbert police officers' arrest of several people on drug-possession and paraphernalia charges even though they had valid medical-marijuana cards. While a reading of the law, approved by voters last fall, appears to grant those with the cards the ability to swap the drug among themselves, Gilbert police say that isn't necessarily so. Some arrests involved people who broke several other laws, police said. [continues 673 words]
There is a good deal of irony in objections from Arizona State Attorney General Tom Horne to an American Civil Liberties Union challenge of the state's lawsuit involving the voter-approved medical marijuana law. Implementation of the new law has been temporarily delayed because Gov. Jan Brewer and Horne are seeking a ruling from the federal courts about whether the marijuana law complies with federal law. They say they fear state employees might be charged with a federal crime if they go forward with it, but what some see is a disguised attempt to thwart a law they do not agree with and did not support before it was narrowly approved by voters last year. [continues 221 words]
Organizers of an initiative drive to reduce the penalties for minor marijuana possession showed up at City Hall with seven boxes of petition signatures Thursday, only to have their dreams nipped in the bud. The drive went to pot after the Tucson city clerk refused to accept the petitions, based on advice from the city attorney, who said the state constitution prohibits city voters from amending state criminal statutes through the initiative process. Stuart Green, one of the organizers of the effort, said the group plans to consult with attorneys to figure out the next step. [continues 460 words]
Peoria's Planning and Zoning Commission recently approved permit requests for two medical-marijuana dispensaries, but such facilities are in limbo as the state seeks clarity on whether the voter-approved ballot measure conflicts with federal drug laws. As Arizona waits for an answer on opening medical-pot facilities, the state health department has issued thousands of patient cards for marijuana use. More than 98 percent of 6,669 applicants were approved as of Wednesday. In Peoria, 169 residents applied for the card. [continues 460 words]
I'm writing about your front page story: "How low can they go? E. V. police departments barely hold the line on officer cuts as new budgets loom" (6-22-11). It seems to me that for the town of Gilbert it should eliminate at least 12 police officers. That's how many cops it took to burst into the home of a Gilbert medical marijuana patient and steal his two ounces of medical marijuana. ("Police raid on Gilbert home sparks medical marijuana outcry" (6-17-11). Have the Gilbert police solved all their rapes, robberies and murders? If not, why are they going after gardeners? Kirk Muse Mesa [end]
Medical marijuana has come to the forefront of several legal battles, both local and federal. The most significant is the state's lawsuit against the U.S. government -- a suit that is holding up applications to open medical marijuana dispensaries. The lawsuit lists the plaintiffs as Gov. Jan Brewer, Will Humble, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS), and Robert Halliday, director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety. It was filed on May 27, days before the state was to begin processing dispensary applications. [continues 427 words]
A couple hours after a DirecTV worker saw marijuana and hashish inside a bedroom closet of Ross Taylor's Gilbert home during the installation process of a satellite dish, 12 Gilbert police officers wearing masks and toting guns busted into his house and took his pot. Taylor, 35, is a card-carrying medical marijuana patient under Arizona's new voter-approved law, who said he uses it for a severe loss of appetite and sleep due to post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. [continues 761 words]
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. [continues 382 words]
Emails Show ATF Director Involved iI Troubled Operation Tied To Agent's Death Lawmakers released documents showing that senior federal officials were closely involved in a troubled gun-enforcement operation that came to light after the death of a U.S. border agent in a shootout in December. The disclosures came at an emotional House hearing at which family members of the agent testified. Republican lawmakers are pressing to determine how high up knowledge and approval of the program went in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and its parent agency, the Justice Department. [continues 783 words]
Overlooking legal matters at the state and federal level, the Scottsdale City Council this week granted permits to six applicants seeking to open medical-marijuana dispensaries and cultivation sites in Scottsdale. The state recently halted the dispensary-application process after filing a lawsuit in federal court to determine whether Arizona's medical-marijuana law conflicts with federal drug statutes. Will Humble, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, said the state will not process dispensary applications until a federal judge rules on the issue. [continues 275 words]
Gilbert Town Council has sided with opponents of two proposed medical marijuana dispensaries and rejected a Planning Commission recommendation the two facilities be approved and sent to the state for further action. The council on Thursday granted the appeals of several nearby residents and business owners who contended the two proposed dispensaries in the town's northwestern part of town violated the town's requirement that they be located a minimum 1,000 feet away from a community park. Opponents also said one of the dispensaries violated the required distance from a church. [continues 326 words]
Garth Stevens' My Turn on Monday ("Flawed logic behind push for drug legalization") is flawed. Access to drugs is not the culprit, lack of common sense and self-control are the culprits. Stevens says the top-three drugs used by teens are alcohol, inhalants and prescription drugs. I would trade marijuana for any one of them. To his point, we should ban alcohol, inhalants and prescription drugs; problem solved. Of course, rational people can see how ridiculous this would be. Or can they? [continues 104 words]
Plans for Gilbert's first two medical-marijuana dispensaries could be held up as the town grapples with the definition of a park. The Town Council discussed appeals challenging permits for the two locations in the northwestern part of the town that were approved by the Planning Commission in May. Though the commission debated what constitutes a park last month, it made no decision on how a dispensary's distance from a park should be measured. State law requires dispensaries to be at least 1,000 feet from public or private parks. [continues 636 words]
Phoenix has suspended its 180-day requirement for holders of medical-marijuana permits to seek state licenses. The move is a result of the state lawsuit against the federal government regarding clarification of Arizona's medical-marijuana law. City officials anticipated that with the state scheduled to begin issuing licenses this month, the three-month period was plenty of time for permit winners to take action. Every medical-marijuana site approved in Phoenix came with stipulations or requirements that the permit holder seek a license. If none was granted within 180 days, the permit would be revoked. The city ordinance also gave applicants 180 days to seek building permits. [continues 152 words]
Editor: On May 24, Governor Brewer and Attorney General Horne announced a lawsuit regarding the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (AMMA). They claim they need a federal court to decide if the AMMA violates federal law. I have sent the following open letter to the Governor: The United States Attorney-General instructed all state Attorneys-General that the federal government judiciary system has much higher priorities than prosecuting patients using medical marijuana in accordance with their state's laws, and to spend no time or budget money pursuing this activity. The DEA was also informed of this highest-level decision. There is virtually a zero chance of federal prosecution of anyone in Arizona legally involved in the administration of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (AMMA). Attorney-General Horne needs to inform Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke that his intention to "vigorously prosecute individuals and organizations that participate in unlawful manufacturing, distribution and marketing activity involving marijuana, even if such activities are permitted under state law" has been expressly prohibited by the United States Attorney-General. Mr. Burke has many more important things to do, though they may not give him as much publicity. [continues 176 words]
The Associated Press article headlined "Major panel: Drug war failed" (The Republic, June 2, Page A5) presented a very skewed view of the so-called war on drugs in our country. Our federal, state and local governments must continue to explore ways to curb illicit drug use in our communities, but legalizing marijuana and other controlled substances will never be the answer. Making illicit drugs legal means increasing their availability to children. Such increased availability leads to higher acceptance and a perceived lower risk of use. And acceptance and low risk ultimately leads to more drug use. [continues 323 words]
From the Political Notebook: - - I don't know whether the legal action Gov. Jan Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne took seeking declaratory judgment about the legality of Arizona's medical marijuana law will result in any clarity. But I do know this: The ambiguity of the federal government regarding its enforcement policies about medical marijuana is grossly irresponsible. The Obama administration has said that it probably won't prosecute patients using medical marijuana under state laws for possession under federal law. But even that isn't for sure. [continues 705 words]
Two former deputies with the Pima County Sheriff's Department were indicted on federal charges of stealing drugs from a storage facility and money during traffic stops, officials said. Miguel Arvizu and Francisco J. Jimenez Jr. were indicted in early May but the indictment was kept sealed until Friday, said Robert Sherwood, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona. Jimenez was on duty and in uniform in his patrol car when he took about $8,000 during two traffic stops in June and October 2010, the indictment says. Arvizu is accused of setting up those traffic stops. [continues 185 words]
With Arizona's medical-marijuana-dispensary program on hold and no town regulations in place for smaller "caregiver" growing operations, Gilbert officials say they have no way of knowing who in town may be legally growing pot - or where. Town officials approached the Planning Commission on Wednesday seeking approval of new rules for marijuana cultivation, but the panel put off a decision until July, citing a need for more research. Nearly 150 Gilbert residents have applied for medical-marijuana-patient cards, allowing them to consume marijuana for treatment of conditions such as chronic pain, cancer, nausea and muscle spasms. [continues 572 words]
Flagstaff attorney Lee Phillips has spent the last week talking to other lawyers from across the state on how to best respond to the state's legal challenge to the voter-approved Arizona Medical Marijuana Act. The consensus? Another legal action from either the American Civil Liberties Union or from the Marijuana Policy Project, the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the country, seeking to dismiss the suit. Gov. Jan Brewer and Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne have said they filed the lawsuit to clarify whether the conflict between state law and the federal ban on marijuana puts state employees involved in implementing the new policy at risk of federal prosecution. [continues 344 words]
Arizona's new medical-marijuana law is not just a legal headache for lawyers and lawmakers anymore. The law that passed narrowly last fall is a cultural page-turning event, prompting changes that just a few years ago would have seemed inconceivable. Like them or not - and we are not exactly thrilled with a lot of these developments - the changes wrought by the medical-marijuana law go far beyond what is dictated in statutes that declare pot a "medicine." The arrival of a restaurant known as Ganja Gourmet comes to mind. The Denver-based company expects to open an edible-marijuana operation in Phoenix before the end of this year, a direct result of the medical-marijuana law. [continues 290 words]
There has been a lot of interpretive work going on with Arizona's medical marijuana law. Some of it is legal interpretation, and some is more theater-based. At the moment, these dramatic readings are stalling full implementation of the voter-approved law. It is up to voters to decide if the politicians and lawyers are sincere or just giving themselves the air of a dying swan in this political play. Gov. Brewer says she is taking very seriously a letter from Dennis Burke, the U.S. Attorney for Arizona, to Health Director Will Humble warning that anyone involved in the purchase or use of marijuana could be prosecuted by the feds, despite the state approval. [continues 260 words]
Lawsuits Expected As Lawmakers Fight Voter-Approved Legislation PHOENIX - State Health Director Will Humble turned away a request by doctors Wednesday to operate a marijuana dispensary, paving the way for a lawsuit. Humble acknowledged that his refusal to even accept an application comes despite a voter-approved law requiring his agency to license about 125 dispensaries around the state. And it is directly contrary to the department's own rules that say the first requests would be considered Wednesday. But Humble said the Attorney General's Office, which provides legal advice for his agency, said all applicants should be turned away until a federal court rules on whether Arizona can enforce its voter-approved medical marijuana law despite federal statutes making possession of the drug a felony. [continues 913 words]
It may not have been the grand opening he'd hoped for, but Dhar Mann says his Phoenix marijuana superstore will be a boon to first-time pot growers. Mann opened his third weGrow store Wednesday - twice the size of his two California locations at 21,000 square feet - amid legal uncertainty about Arizona's voter-approved medical-pot law. A federal lawsuit filed last week by Gov. Jan Brewer has halted the monthlong marijuana-dispensary-application process, which was to have started Wednesday. Mann said he expected to cater to large-scale cultivation operations that served dispensaries but instead will focus on folks setting up grow rooms and gardens at home. [continues 214 words]
State health Director Will Humble was putting the finishing touches Tuesday on the letter he will give to prospective medical-marijuana dispensary owners when he declines their applications. Though Humble and his staff have spent months preparing for today's start of the dispensary application process, the federal lawsuit filed Friday by Gov. Jan Brewer has put the kibosh on it. "We'll explain to them that we're unable to accept applications right now and thank them for their efforts," he said. "At least they'll have something when they leave to document that they tried." [continues 434 words]
Dude. I don't know about you, but I'm, like, constantly hearing from these seriously uncool reporters from out of state who ask me, like, you know, "Man, what is UP with the politicians in Arizona? Are they smoking some seriously killer weed or what?" To which I usually play along with the lame impersonation of a pothead and then respond: Well, ask yourself this, what else could account for their behavior? As a plausible explanation, it worked. At least until last week, when Gov. Jan Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne announced their intention to launch a legal challenge that, unfortunately, will demonstrate to the rest of the world that Arizona politicians do not indulge in any other form of hemp, reefer or ganja when conducting state business. (No matter how much it LOOKS that way.) [continues 528 words]
Despite the allowance of medical marijuana in Arizona, the Arizona Board of Regents will not be allowing the substance on any state university campuses. ABOR's policy is in keeping with the Drug Free Workplace Act and the Drug Free Schools and Communities Act, which requires places receiving federal money or financial assistance under federal programs must prevent the possession or distribution of illegal drugs or alcohol. Arizona universities would forfeit any federal money they are receiving, including grants and scholarships, if they allowed the possession of medical marijuana on campus. [continues 316 words]
Residents living near Saguaro High School fought off a proposed medical-marijuana dispensary this week but opposition to 11 other dispensaries and five cultivation facilities proposed for Scottsdale was rather muted over the past two months. The Scottsdale Planning Commission, besieged by a packed hearing room, voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend denial of a city-use permit for Taxonomy Healing Practices in an office building southwest of McDonald Drive and Granite Reef Road. Area residents, who collected more than 800 signatures on petitions opposing the dispensary, said it would bring crime to their neighborhood and was too close to schools, churches and homes. [continues 658 words]
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer recently told Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne to seek a federal court decision on whether Arizona can enforce its new medical marijuana law. It seems as though Brewer cares that federal law triumphs over state law and she doesn't want innocent citizens to willingly break it. But how come she has passed and promoted so much legislation that directly violates federal law and says she does it because the people want it? It is because Brewer does not care about federal law or what people want. Brewer knows that medical marijuana would cause her friends, the pharmaceutical companies, to lose business and not support her. [continues 63 words]
Will the real Jan Brewer please stand up? The governor has come far since she made her name globally by signing Arizona's divisive immigration law. Criticized at first for riding SB 1070's coattails into office for a full term as governor, she earned our respect for supporting the Proposition 100 temporary sales tax increase for education funding, and standing up to the more radical local elements of the Republican Party. But she's also made a name for herself with partisan squawking and knee-jerk reactions to slights, both real and perceived, from Washington. Now it's getting out of hand - and it's getting old. [continues 472 words]
The man shot and killed by SWAT officers, as well as his brother and another man, were listed as suspects in a complex drug investigation being conducted by the Sheriff's Department, according to documents released Thursday. That investigation was the reason heavily armed SWAT officers went to Jose Guerena's house to serve a search warrant that ended in his fatal shooting May 5, reports show. More than 500 pages of officers' statements, evidence lists and witness interviews were released by the Pima County Sheriff's Department. Also released were audiotapes from the shooting scene, radio transmissions and other communications made by law enforcement personnel during the serving of search warrants on four homes on the southwest side. [continues 1327 words]
PHOENIX - Backers of medical marijuana charge that a federal lawsuit filed late Friday is designed let the governor and the attorney general do in court what they could not persuade voters to do: keep the use of the drug illegal in Arizona. Richard Keyt, an attorney who helps companies set up dispensaries, said the lawsuit is worded in a way to ensure the judge can reach only one conclusion: the federal Controlled Substances Act trumps the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act. And Keyt said states cannot change federal law. [continues 601 words]
Arizona's health director put medical-marijuana dispensaries on hold just days before he was to begin accepting applications, citing the lawsuit filed by the state in federal court Friday to determine whether the new law conflicts with federal drug statutes. State Department of Health Services Director Will Humble is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, along with Gov. Jan Brewer and state Department of Public Safety Director Robert Halliday. The suit seeks a declaratory judgment regarding whether compliance with Arizona's voter-approved medical-marijuana law shields state employees, patients, dispensary owners and others from federal prosecution. [continues 418 words]
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery on Thursday formally advised the Board of Supervisors to opt out of the state's medical-marijuana program "unless and until the potential criminal prosecution of county employees is resolved." He urged supervisors not to accept or process any more applications for medical-marijuana dispensaries or cultivation sites, or to issue any permits on county-controlled land pending the outcome of the state's lawsuit. The state plans to ask the federal government for an opinion on the legality of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act today. [continues 306 words]
Authorities: Officers Helped Smuggle Drugs, Immigrants Three Maricopa County sheriff's employees, including a deputy in the human-smuggling unit, were arrested Tuesday by authorities who say they were involved in a drug- and human-trafficking ring and used Sheriff's Office intelligence to guide smugglers through the Valley. Deputy Alfredo Navarrette, 37, has worked with the Sheriff's Office for nearly a decade, serving in a special unit designed to target human smugglers moving through Maricopa County. But investigators believe Navarrette was himself involved in human smuggling. Investigators found two undocumented immigrants in Navarrette's home when he was arrested early Tuesday morning in a sweep that concluded a yearlong investigation. [continues 1084 words]
Being neither a recreational or medical user of marijuana, I fail to see the logic in our Dear Leaders filing a lawsuit to declare the legality of the medical-marijuana law passed in the last election and valid in 15 other states. Why wasn't the question of its legality vetted before putting it on the ballot? What's next? Banning the playing of "Rocky Mountain High"? Sandra Gottlieb Surprise [end]
PHOENIX - The top federal prosecutor in Arizona said Gov. Jan Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne are distorting the facts on the issue of medical marijuana, and the risk of federal prosecution of state workers. Brewer and Horne announced earlier this week they will file suit, based on concerns about a letter from Dennis Burke, the U.S. attorney for Arizona, which they say suggests state employees who process permits under the voter-approved law could be charged with violating the federal Controlled Substances Act. [continues 443 words]
Arizona will ask a federal court today to clarify whether its voter-approved medical-marijuana law conflicts with federal drug statutes, launching what probably will be a lengthy legal battle that could cripple the state's fledging industry and spark more legal action. Gov. Jan Brewer also will put a temporary halt to the state's permit process for marijuana dispensaries, set to begin Wednesday, with an executive order issued by Tuesday, her office said. She does not plan to stop issuance of medical-marijuana user-ID cards. [continues 1044 words]
To the editor: Re: The medical pot business. A reader recently posted a letter advocating the decriminalization of pot, stating that it is a relatively harmless substance compared to alcohol and cigarettes, both legal products. Yes, both are legal, but one does not have to look too far to see just how much death and destruction they have caused over time, all the while being legal. Do we really need to legalize another mind altering and physically debilitating drug under the pretense that it will reduce crime? So instead of a relatively small segment of our society being potheads, by decriminalizing it we can increase that number exponentially to equal the number of alcohol users. The impact would be more drivers on our roads under the influence of either alcohol or pot. Unfortunately, supporters of legalizing marijuana conveniently, but not surprisingly, never mention just how harmful it is. It's as if it were a wonder drug, it just makes one feel good, that's all. What harm can there be in that? [continues 82 words]
In the 16 states that have medical-marijuana laws, there has never been a prosecution of a state worker. Nor did U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke threaten to do this. His letter is being used as a pretext for thwarting the voters. If any further proof was needed, Attorney General Tom Horne says Arizona will not take a position in this matter. Why not? It is state law. He's the attorney general of Arizona. How about supporting the state law? How come these folks go toe to toe with the federal government on immigration and health care but want to bow and kowtow on this particular issue? Hypocrisy. Randy Yavitz Phoenix [end]
Saying she fears people could wind up in legal trouble, Gov. Jan Brewer on Tuesday ordered the state attorney general to get a federal court to rule whether Arizona can implement its medical marijuana law. Brewer said it was always known there was a conflict between the law, which lets Arizonans with a doctor's recommendation get a state-issued card letting them purchase and use marijuana, and the federal statutes which make possession, sale and transportation a felony. But she said a letter from Dennis Burke, the U.S. Attorney for Arizona, to her state health chief appeared to be a warning that anyone involved -- from patients and dispensary operators to landlords and even state health officials -- could wind up being prosecuted by his office. [continues 639 words]
Bravo, kudos and thank you for the well-written editorial in Saturday's Republic ("Feds must end pot-law confusion"). The feds seem to be speaking out of both sides of their mouths on this issue. I did appreciate what Gov. Jan Brewer had to say about the feds' selective enforcement of laws. They can't seem to come up with a plan with regard to our border problems, but - Wow! - they got serious about medical marijuana. Keep up the good work. Bill Acree Phoenix [end]
Inside Arizona
