Pubdate: Fri, 24 Aug 2012
Source: East Valley Tribune (AZ)
Copyright: 2012 East Valley Tribune.
Contact: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/opinion/submit_a_letter/
Website: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2708
Author: Howard Fischer

AG FILES COURT PAPERS TO ULTIMATELY HALT LICENSING OF ARIZONA MEDICAL 
MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

Arizona's top prosecutor asked a judge Thursday morning to void a key 
provision in the state's 2-year-old medical marijuana law.

In legal papers filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, Attorney 
General Tom Horne argued that voters are legally powerless to 
authorize anyone to sell marijuana as long as it remains illegal 
under federal law.

The real goal is to get a ruling declaring the state and federal laws 
in conflict. Horne said that will then allow him to direct the state 
Department of Health Services to halt the current process of 
licensing up to 126 dispensaries to sell the drugs.

Horne is not seeking to invalidate the approximately 30,000 cards 
which the health department has issued to people who have a doctor's 
recommendation to use the drug. He said there is a technical legal 
difference to how Arizona law is worded that he believes allows state 
officials to provide the cards as identification.

But Horne said that, as far as he is concerned, there is "no legal 
way" for those people to get their drugs. Not only does he believe 
that dispensaries are illegal, he contends the state is powerless to 
allow marijuana users to grow their own drugs.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery filed similar paperwork in 
the same case.

Montgomery, however, takes an even narrower view of the law: He 
believes the state-issued cards to medical marijuana users also are 
preempted by the federal Controlled Substances Act.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom