Pubdate: Tue, 31 Jul 2012
Source: Arizona Daily Sun (AZ)
Copyright: 2012 Arizona Daily Sun
Contact: http://news.azdailysun.com/opinion/letter_submit.cfm
Website: http://www.azdailysun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1906
Author: Howard Fischer

BREWER REJECTS COUNTY ATTORNEYS' MED POT REQUEST

PHOENIX -- Gov. Jan Brewer is rejecting a plea from county attorneys
that she order the state health department to stop issuing cards for
people to legally obtain marijuana for medical reasons and not to
license dispensaries to sell the drug.

"The federal government is vigorously enforcing the Controlled
Substances Act by seizing and closing medical marijuana dispensaries
in other states," wrote Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk on behalf
of 13 of the state's 15 county attorneys. And Polk said she has been
told -- she does not say by whom -- that John Leonardo, the new U.S.
Attorney for Arizona "fully intends to prevent any dispensaries from
operating in Arizona by seizing each and everyone one as it opens and
commits violations of the Controlled Substances Act."

Yet Polk said the state health department continues to issue marijuana
user cards -- nearly 30,000 by this point -- and is proceeding with
plans to license 126 dispensaries.

"We believe it is bad public policy for one arm of the government to
facilitate marijuana cultivation and use while another arm of the
government is moving to close it down," she wrote. And Polk said the
state is encouraging would-be dispensary owners to get the capital,
obtain necessary permits, sign leases and pay a $5,000 application fee
"knowing full well that these business ventures will result in
significant financial repercussions when the U.S. Attorney shuts them
down."

But Brewer said she does not intend to stop anything -- at least not
without a court order. In fact, the governor tried to get just such an
order, but without success, as a federal judge refused last year to
rule on Brewer's request to clarify whether the state's medical
marijuana program can proceed in spite of federal law.

Brewer also noted that Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Richard
Gama, in a separate ruling, said Brewer had no right to ignore the
2010 voter-approved law setting up the state's medical marijuana
program. And that, the governor said, ends the discussion.

"I am duty-bound to implement the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, and
my agency will do so unless and until I am instructed otherwise,"
Brewer wrote.

Polk's concern about state officials being prosecuted has not been
shared by state health chief Will Humble.

 From the moment the law was implemented, his agency was issuing the
cards that allow those with a doctor's recommendation to obtain up to
2 1/2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks. Humble said he was not
concerned because his employees were simply processing paperwork and
neither handling nor testing the drug.

Humble did delay implementing rules for licensing dispensaries after
Brewer sought that federal court ruling about having the state license
businesses to grow and sell marijuana. But he relented after the
federal judge refused to say there is a conflict between state and
federal laws.

The first dispensaries are expected to be licensed within
weeks.

The two prosecutors who did not sign the letter to Brewer were from
Coconino and La Paz counties. Efforts to reach both late Monday were
unsuccessful to find out if they did not agree with their counterparts
or simply did not have the opportunity to sign the letter.
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MAP posted-by: Matt