The tug-of-war between Prop 200 advocates who object to criminalizing small-scale drug use and local prosecutors who see smoking a joint as the road to ruin got hotter recently when the Arizona Supreme Court exempted drug paraphernalia from jail time.

Previously, first-time users of marijuana, meth, cocaine or other drugs could not be sentenced to jail, but faced only probation and a fine -- because of Prop 200. However, some prosecutors in the state sought to tack on county jail time by getting a drug paraphernalia conviction, arguing that paraphernalia is not mentioned in Prop 200.

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