Pubdate: Tue, 07 Aug 2012
Source: Sun, The (Yuma, AZ)
Copyright: 2012 The Sun
Contact: http://www.yumasun.com/sections/opinion/submit-letters/
Website: http://www.yumasun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1258

FIGHT CONTINUES AGAINST MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

Even as the Arizona Health Department awarded licenses Tuesday for
medical marijuana dispensaries in Arizona - including three here in
Yuma County - new legal roadblocks loomed.

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne announced Monday he will seek a
court ruling to get the dispensaries declared illegal since they
cannot exist under federal drug laws. Maricopa County Attorney Bill
Montgomery is making a similar dispensaries challenge and may
eventually go after individual medical marijuana users for breaking
laws against illegal drugs.

Horne argued a state law cannot override a federal law. He is correct,
unless that federal law is overturned, but it is an ironic argument
since some state lawmakers and others have argued state authority can
actually be superior to federal authority under our Constitution. The
so-called state's rights claim has become a key argument on various
issues in our state.

The supremacy of the federal government on the marijuana issue has
also been argued by most of the state's county attorneys and sheriffs
as well. They have asked the governor to intervene against the medical
marijuana law provisions approved by voters in 2010, but so far
Montgomery is the only one to actually take his own legal action.

Gov. Jan Brewer previously sought to have the courts rule on the
legality of law, but the courts declined for the present. Brewer says
that forces her to move forward with the law. But Horne and Montgomery
apparently want to give the court route another try on their own.

It seems to us that at least some of this activity is simply an
attempt to discourage operators and investors in the dispensaries from
actually going forward with their plans due to a legal cloud hanging
over them. Attorneys for some of the potential operators have called
the legal challenges unfounded and just "politics."

Even if the challenges are successful, however, Arizona's law allows
authorized medical marijuana users to grow their own supply if there
is no available dispensary. In our view, that uncontrolled option
would be worse than the controlled method of distribution provided by
state licensed and inspected dispensaries.

It would be useful to have a definite legal answer one way or the
other from the courts, but so far that has not happened, even though
about a dozen states already have laws allowing medical marijuana use.
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MAP posted-by: Matt