It is very odd to hear Arizona elected officials promoting the primacy of federal mandate over a law passed by the state's voters, as Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk and other county attorneys recently have ("Brewer urged to halt pot program," Republic, Tuesday). It appears that Polk and 12 other county attorneys are all of one mind when it comes to marijuana: Any production and distribution is criminal, and any use of the drug constitutes abuse. They seem to have concluded that the electorate must have been confused when voting for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (AMMA), and so now they are simply trying to save us from ourselves. [continues 512 words]
Gilbert has almost 900 approved patients With the drop of two ping-pong balls just before noon Tuesday, six potential medical-marijuana dispensaries in Gilbert will learn if they were selected in a lottery for licenses to grow and sell pot to nearly 30,000 qualified patients in Arizona. There are nearly 900 patients approved for marijuana use in Gilbert, and the town's eastern half has one of the highest concentrations of users in the state, according to a report from the Arizona Department of Health Services. [continues 549 words]
PHOENIX -- State officials will award the first-ever licenses to legally sell marijuana this coming week under what one prosecutor said is a cloud of having them shut down the moment they open their doors. The big day comes Tuesday when state health officials will pull out a device most resembling the machine used to pick lottery numbers. In fact, that's really what it is: a lottery to determine which of the 486 applicants are going to walk away with a certificate that awards them permission -- pending final inspection -- to be one of the 126 sites where marijuana can be sold. In areas where there are multiple applicants for the same neighborhood, the business whose pre-numbered ping pong ball that the machine spits out is the winner. [continues 959 words]
Why does The Arizona Republic refer to a medical program enacted by a vote of the people as a "pot program"? The foundation of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution rest upon the people's entitlement to the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God." The Bill of Rights incorporated John Locke's idea that individuals' economic and personal rights should be protected from the government and are free and equal in the state of nature. According to the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, the first Law of Nature is that every man ought to endeavor peace, as far as he has hope of obtaining it. If a federal government agency wishes to go against the vote, the hope, the will, the happiness, the health and the peace of the people, then they better re-read the Tenth Amendment of the Bill of Rights and understand that "powers" not delegated to the Constitution nor prohibited by the states are reserved to the people. Oh, yeah, and they better Google the second part of the first law of nature, too. Peter Allen Jones, Apache Junction [end]
Ahwatukee Has Only 1 Applicant Ahwatukee will learn next week whether its only applicant for a medical-marijuana dispensary license will be authorized to set up shop. For most of Arizona's 126 so-called community health analysis areas, multiple applicants are seeking state permission to sell marijuana for treatment of medical conditions. The Arizona Department of Health Services will conduct a lottery for those zones on Tuesday. Ahwatukee, which is among several zones in Phoenix, had only one dispensary application. [continues 553 words]
Until this week there were three Chicken Littles in Arizona spreading the-sky-is-falling fear about our medical marijuana law. In political pecking order (I'll try to keep the poultry puns to a minimum) they are Gov. Jan Brewer, Attorney General Tom Horne and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery. This week, a dozen more clucking birds joined the flock. (Seriously, I'll try.) Thirteen county attorneys (including Montgomery) recently sent a three-page letter to Gov. Brewer urging her to prevent the state from issuing licenses for medical-marijuana dispensaries. [continues 664 words]
Arizona's Medical Marijuana Act was narrowly passed by the voters in November of 2010. The Director of the Arizona Department of Health Services states that we have a "model" program, and that the demographics of the card users show the "vast majority are legitimately accessing the system." (Az. Republic 7/20/12) Do the facts really support these claims? ADHS has issued 30,550 medical marijuana patient cards. Only 1,275 of the cards are for cancer; 27,330 of the cards are for self-defined chronic pain. Interestingly, 74 percent of the patient cards have been issued to males; 26 percent to females. Forty-seven percent of the cards have been issued to users between the ages of 18 and 40. [continues 395 words]
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." [continues 417 words]
County Attorneys Say Licensing Will Defy Law Thirteen Arizona county attorneys are urging Gov. Jan Brewer to halt the state's medical-marijuana program, saying state employees will be facilitating federal crimes when they issue licenses to pot dispensaries. The lawyers signed onto a three-page July 24 letter authored by Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, who requests that the governor prevent the state's issuance of licenses for medical-marijuana dispensaries because the state program is pre-empted by the federal Controlled Substances Act. [continues 808 words]
Following in the footsteps of their top prosecutors, most of Arizona's county sheriffs are asking Gov. Jan Brewer to halt the state's medical-marijuana program. Thirteen of the state's 15 sheriffs sent a letter to Brewer this week that's identical to the letter she received from 13 Arizona county attorneys days earlier. Like the lawyers, the sheriffs argue that federal drug laws pre-empt Arizona's voter-approved medical-marijuana law and that state, county and local employees could risk prosecution if they implement it. Those signing the letter from Yavapai County Sheriff Scott Mascher, who is president of the Arizona Sheriffs Association, include Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu. [continues 268 words]
With a lottery for the state's first medical marijuana dispensaries looming just a week away, most of the county attorneys in Arizona have signed onto Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk's letter asking the governor to put a halt to dispensaries as well as user cards. "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," Polk's July 24 letter to Gov. Jan Brewer said. A dozen other county attorneys signed on to the letter on short notice, she said. [continues 810 words]
While the Process of Opening Dispensaries Drags, the Number of Registered MMJ Patients Lags In a perfect world, we would all be freely exchanging marijuana for money like we trade our fine legal tender for bread or bananas or apples or Trek Madone bicycles. But we don't. The Man here in the great state of Arizona has made sure of that, putting a crimp in our collective style and gumming up the medical-marijuana system with all kinds of regulations and rules and Do Thises and Don't Do Thats. Those rules and regulations are grinding along ever so slowly in Phoenix this week, where state officials are gearing up to let a handful of dispensaries swing open doors to let the masses (OK, not quite the masses; more on that later) pick and choose freely among the buds. [continues 514 words]
Arizona's county attorneys - including ours in Yuma County - want to head off an intergovernmental conflict that appears to be looming over marijuana. But our state's governor said Monday she can't go along with them - and with good reason. The conflict revolves around Arizona's medical marijuana law that was approved by voters in 2010 but is yet to be fully implemented. The state Department of Health Services has been issuing identity cards to tens of thousands of authorized medical marijuana users as part of the law so they can possess and use a defined amount of the drug. [continues 289 words]
The Arizona Department of Health Services has received petitions to expand the state's medical-marijuana program to include treatment of sleeping disorders and skin conditions. The Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, approved by voters in 2010, requires the state health department to periodically accept and evaluate petitions to see whether to allow new medical conditions into the program. In July, state health Director Will Humble refused to expand the program to include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and migraines. He and a panel of medical experts, working from a University of Arizona study, determined there is insufficient scientific evidence to show the risks or benefits of using marijuana with those conditions. Humble has said he will expand the program only if there is scientific evidence to support permanently adding conditions to the list. He is expected to decide about the sleeping disorders and skin conditions within the next few months. [end]
While welcomed by some and shunned by others on both sides of the debate over medical marijuana, a medical marijuana dispensary is set to be awarded Aug. 7 in Graham County. The Arizona Department of Health Services received 484 applications for dispensaries throughout the state. Only 126 will be awarded -- one for each Community Health Analysis Area -- and a random drawing for areas with more than one application will be held Aug. 7. Some CHAAs, including all of those on Indian reservations, did not have a dispensary applicant. [continues 685 words]
The Yavapai County Board of Supervisors recently approved a new agreement between the Sheriff's Office and the Arizona Department of Public Safety for cannabis eradication, controlling the illicit production of marijuana grows. The general agreement is not new. In the past, the Drug Enforcement Administration has compensated the local agency directly, but in the new contract, all reimbursements pass through the Arizona Department of Public Safety. The contracts have just been updated for agencies across the West. Jon Nelson is the Supervisory Law enforcement officer on the Prescott, Coconino and Kaibab National Forests. [continues 455 words]
Arizona's Medical Marijuana Act was narrowly passed by voters in November 2010. The director of the Arizona Department of Health Services states that we have a "model" program and that the demographics of the card users show "the vast majority are legitimately accessing the system" (Valley & State, July 20). Do the facts really support these claims? The ADHS has issued 30,550 medical-marijuana patient cards. Only 1,275 of the cards are for cancer; 27,330 of the cards are for self-defined chronic pain. Interestingly, 74 percent of the patient cards have been issued to males; 26 percent to females. Forty-seven percent of the cards have been issued to users between the ages of 18 and 40. [continues 400 words]
Too bad the Tribune writer covering the growing drug DUI prosecutions made so little effort to be thorough. What he fails to point out is that many drugs and medications including the ones mentioned in the article, marijuana and Oxycodone, remain in your body in an inactive state long beyond the time of use and long beyond any point of impairment. It's good for the prosecutor's business to point a finger at drug abusers like Whitney Houston, but your neighbor who had a tooth pulled last week and took painkillers for a day or two is just as likely to be arrested in Mesa for DUI because the drug is still in his system. Our laws state that it is illegal to have certain drugs in your body and operate a vehicle, including marijuana which can remain for 30 days or more after use, long beyond any question of impairment. [continues 83 words]
Inside Arizona
