With all the debate about marijuana usage, one basic fact is being ignored: Marijuana is not a chemical produced in a pharmacy. It is a species of life. The overwhelming majority of people would either credit its existence to Mother Nature or God. Since no environmental impact study has been done, we can only guess at what its place is in nature, but one would think it is there for some positive role. And yet, we are spending billions to try to actively remove this species of life from its natural ecosystem. Do opponents to marijuana think that they are smarter than Mother Nature or do they think they are smarter than God? [continues 120 words]
PHOENIX -- Sheriff's deputies will have to deliver three quarters of an ounce of marijuana to a California woman if a Yuma County court commissioner gets her way. Lisa Bleich said it's not like she's ordering the deputies to become drug suppliers. Instead, she pointed out, Valerie Okun had a valid medical marijuana card when the drugs were taken from her. The commissioner said all she is requiring is that the property be returned to its rightful owner. Bleich acknowledged that marijuana remains illegal under federal law. But she rejected arguments that delivering the drugs to Okun would make the deputies guilty of illegal drug distribution under the federal Controlled Substances Act. [continues 801 words]
Mother of Naked Lynx Lake Jeep Thief Testifies CAMP VERDE - Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk is taking a unique - and unprecedented - angle in the fight to stop the synthetic drugs known as bath salts and spice: She wants stores that sell them declared a public nuisance. The move is necessary because, as the Arizona Legislature makes the synthetic drugs illegal, the drug manufacturers simply change one compound in their product, which creates what's known as an "analog." Analogs have the same effects as the originals and are legal, because they are not the same chemical prohibited by state law. [continues 780 words]
I'm writing about J.M. Smith's "Keep the Faith" (Medical MJ, Aug. 23). Unfortunately, I am not nearly as optimistic as Mr. Smith. The Mexican drug-cartels don't want any legal marijuana sold in Arizona or anywhere in the United States. So will they go after the medical-marijuana dispensaries? Not directly. Instead, they'll have politicians on their payroll to do it for them. Unfortunately, I voted for and campaigned for one of those politicians who now resides in the White House. Kirk Muse Mesa [end]
PHOENIX - Sheriff's deputies will have to deliver three-quarters of an ounce of marijuana to a California woman if a Yuma County court commissioner gets her way. Lisa Bleich said it's not like she's ordering the deputies to become drug suppliers, pointing out that Valerie Okun had a valid medical marijuana card when the drugs were seized from her. The commissioner said all she is requiring is that the property be returned to its rightful owner. Bleich acknowledged that marijuana remains illegal under federal law. But she rejected county legal arguments that delivering the drugs to Okun would make the deputies guilty of illegal drug distribution under the federal Controlled Substances Act. [continues 490 words]
The issue of medical marijuana seems to be one of those that foster disagreement, even among members of the justice system. The latest example of this here in our state involves the Yuma County Sheriff's Office and the Yuma County judicial system. The dispute was reported in the Yuma Sun Tuesday. It involves the confiscation of marijuana from a registered medical marijuana user from California. The woman was detained at a Border Patrol checkpoint east of Yuma and her marijuana was confiscated. The border agents turned the case and the marijuana over to the sheriff's office. [continues 273 words]
In the kiva-shaped sanctuary at Southside Presbyterian Church, Tucson's long-running center for progressive causes and rallying center for immigrants' rights, a gray-haired visitor stood solemnly at the podium and leaned into the microphone. With the speaking skills of a preacher, Javier Sicilia spoke in a subdued voice about the incessant and deafening violence in his native Mexico. There, some 50,000 people have died since Mexican President Felipe Calderon, at the blunt insistence of the United States, unleashed that country's military against the Mexican drug mafia nearly six years ago. [continues 563 words]
Last time I checked, both Attorney General Tom Horne and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery were employees of the state of Arizona, not the federal government. If Attorney General Tom Horne and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery want to enforce the federal marijuana laws, they should resign from their jobs as Arizona elected officials and get hired by the federal government as prosecutors. Until then they should stop wasting our tax dollars in their personal war against Arizona medical marijuana users. Yes Arizona's Prop 203 does conflict with federal law. If they don't like it they should resign, instead of wasting our tax dollars for their personal witch hunt against medical marijuana users. Mike Ross Tempe [end]
Just days into her new job at a hospice in Cottonwood, Esther Shapiro claims she was fired because she uses medical marijuana to relieve chronic pain caused by fibromyalgia. The hospice sent her for a drug test, and she warned them it would come back positive. Shapiro said the next day, a nurse manager told her the hospice's insurance company thought she was too much of a liability. "It was, basically, in my opinion, crap," Shapiro told "I was fired unlawfully." Across Arizona, employers and workers are settling into an uneasy relationship with medical marijuana. While a 2010 voter-approved law forbids employers from discriminating against medical-marijuana patients, the law provides no protection for employees who are impaired at work. [continues 1239 words]
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. [continues 147 words]
PHOENIX -- The state's top prosecutor asked a judge Thursday to void a key provision in Arizona'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 even before the first one has opened its doors. [continues 984 words]
Despite Recent Setbacks, Legal Medical Marijuana Will Continue to Be Available Being a medical-marijuana patient is beginning to feel a bit like living in a house of cards. And the wind is beginning to blow. In the past two weeks, Gov. Jan reignited the bundle of sticks at our feet by yet again siccing bulldog Tom Horne on the MMJ community. And in Los Angeles, where (and possibly in part because) the artist formerly known as Snoop Dogg touts the benefits of MMJ in dispensary ads, the city is gearing up to enforce a storefront sales ban imposed last month. In July, the U.S. attorney for Northern California-the Holy Land of MMJ-sent notice that she plans to cast the walls of the temple asunder at the biggest dispensary in the nation, San Francisco's Harborside Health Center, where more than 100,000 patients are connected with their meds. [continues 540 words]
PHOENIX - Think you can show up at work with your clothes reeking of marijuana and get away with it just by saying the doctor told you to inhale? Think again. You may not know it, but your boss is entitled to check with the state Department of Health Services to find out if you are, in fact, a medical marijuana user. In fact, the database will even disclose how much marijuana you've bought legally in the last 60 days. And so far about 170 firms, from small shops through Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold and U-Haul International, have signed up to do just that. [continues 1060 words]
Do you have an employee who thinks he can show up at work with his clothes reeking of marijuana and get away with it just by saying the doctor told him to inhale? You can use a little-known database to sniff out the truth. Bosses are entitled to check with the Arizona Department of Health Services to find out if their workers are, in fact, medical marijuana users. And so far about 170 firms, from small shops to corporate giants Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold and U-Haul International, have signed up to do so. [continues 904 words]
PHOENIX -- Think you can show up at work with your clothes reeking of marijuana and get away with it just by saying the doctor told you to inhale? Think again. You may not know it, but your boss is entitled to check with the state Department of Health Services to find out if you are, in fact, a medical marijuana user. In fact, the database will even disclose how much marijuana you've bought legally in the last 60 days. And so far about 170 firms, from small shops through Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold and U-Haul International, have signed up to do just that. [continues 1061 words]
Pinal County started its Adult Drug Court in Casa Grande three years ago. Based on its encouraging success rate, a decision was made to expand the program. A few weeks ago, Adult Drug Court expanded to include a court in Florence to service the Florence, Coolidge and San Tan Valley areas. "We knew the need was here for such a program," Brian Finucane, Adult Drug Court supervisor, said. "We decided that we could do another such program with existing resources. We didn't apply for a grant or any type of funding. We did it with what we already had. [continues 782 words]
Coolidge Selected for Marijuana Dispensary An investor group associated with Casa Grande oncologist Dr. Donald Hill recently hit the jackpot after being chosen in the state Department of Health's lottery to license medical marijuana dispensaries. Of the 126 Community Health Analysis Areas (CHAA), the only ones selected for licensing were picked through a bingo-style lottery that chose only one applicant per zone. Dr. Hill and his group of investors, according to Growth Management Director Alton Bruce, already have been approved for a conditional use permit by the City Council and have applied to open a dispensary in the Safeway Plaza. [continues 197 words]
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, like county attorneys across Arizona, is no fan of the state's medical-marijuana program. He worries that a combination of cash and drugs will attract criminals. He's concerned that state employees implementing the program are at risk of federal prosecution. He warns that the voter-passed initiative conflicts with federal drug laws, which ban the cultivation, sale and use of marijuana. His concerns are well grounded. But that doesn't excuse the saber rattling he engaged in last week. [continues 419 words]
The small crowd of courtroom observers grows hushed as the Reverend Allan Sobol takes the stand. Sobol's mostly bald, with a graying goatee and mustache. He's dressed in a black suit, with a black shirt and no tie. After he's sworn in, Phoenix attorney Paul Conant asks him a few questions about how he became a minister. "Ten years ago, I had a heart attack," Sobol, 58, explains solemnly. "It was a back-to-Jesus moment." The line elicits snickers from several observers. Many in the crowd are his detractors and competitors in the medical-marijuana business. [continues 741 words]
Will Schreiber was sure the payoff for opening a medical-marijuana dispensary would be huge. Schreiber was so certain of the investment that he sunk about $100,000 into submitting two business proposals to open a dispensary in northern Tempe. Schreiber funded the prospective business in a partnership in which two others became the applicants. The state would allow only one dispensary to open in the city's northern region, but Schreiber figured he would increase his chances if both of his proposals were qualified to enter the state random lottery. [continues 866 words]
Inside Arizona
