PHOENIX - Foes of legalizing adult recreational use of marijuana in Arizona are trying to keep the issue from going to voters in November. Legal papers filed in Maricopa County Superior Court contend the legally required 100-word description misled people into signing the petition to put the issue on the ballot. Issues range from the definition of "marijuana" to how the law would affect driving while impaired. The lawsuit comes as a new survey Tuesday finds widespread support for the proposal a=80" with more than 6 out of every 10 likely voters saying they will support it if it is on the ballot. Pollster Mike Noble of OH Predictive Insights said the query of 600 likely voters found that just 32% say they're definitely opposed. [continues 814 words]
PHOENIX - Foes of legalized marijuana asked the Arizona Supreme Court late Thursday to keep voters from ever getting to decide the issue. Attorney Brett Johnson wants the justices to rule that Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jo Lynn Gentry got it wrong when she ruled last week that a 2015 change in state law precludes outsiders - including initiative opponents - from challenging the legal sufficiency of the ballot measure. Gentry said that makes all of the alleged flaws Johnson said are in the petitions legally irrelevant. [continues 620 words]
PHOENIX - A judge has thrown out a bid to keep voters from deciding whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. In a ruling Friday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jo Lynn Gentry said when state lawmakers altered the election code last year they eliminated - perhaps inadvertently - the ability of individual citizens to sue to keep initiative measures off the ballot. And she said lawmakers failed to restore that right anywhere else. "Thus, whether wittingly or not, the legislatures eliminated a means by which initiative petitions can be challenged," Gentry wrote. [continues 572 words]
PHOENIX - A judge will hear arguments Aug. 12 over whether Arizonans will be allowed to vote on whether they want to legalize marijuana for recreational use. At a hearing Tuesday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jo Lynn Gentry gave backers of the initiative two weeks to respond to charges by foes that the wording of the measure is legally flawed and cannot be placed on the November ballot. Attorney Brett Johnson, who represents challengers, contends the proposal is basically a fraud on voters. [continues 484 words]
PHOENIX - Got marijuana? Not legally? Might want to keep the smell down. A pair of new court rulings Monday allows the police to pursue a search of your place or your vehicle solely based on the odor. Attorneys for both men who were convicted based on such searches argued that the 2010 voter-approved law which allows some people with certain medical conditions to legally possess or use marijuana means that the smell alone is no longer evidence that a crime is occurring. The fact that neither of them was a medical marijuana cardholder, the lawyers said, is irrelevant. [continues 447 words]
PHOENIX - Foes of legalizing marijuana for recreational use in Arizona are trying to block voters from getting their say on the measure. In a lawsuit filed Monday, challengers say the 38-page initiative is legally flawed, to the point where it would be illegal to put the question on the November ballot. It specifically says the legally required initiative summary fails to tell those who signed the petitions all the different things that the measure, if approved, would do. And that, according to the lawsuit, means it is "so misleading voters as to cause a fraud on the electorate." [continues 573 words]
Levels of Impairment Not Defined PHOENIX - The campaign to allow recreational use of marijuana is on amid questions of whether the measure would allow people to legally drive while under the influence of the drug. Supporters on Thursday submitted what they said were petitions with 258,582 signatures seeking to change the law. That is more than 100,000 more than the secretary of state's office needs to declare valid to put the issue on the November ballot. But amid the nearly 10,000-word proposal is language saying that individuals cannot be penalized solely because they test positive for not just marijuana metabolites that are left over weeks after using the drug, but the actual "components of marijuana." And that would include tetrahydrocannabinol ( THC), the psychoactive element of the drug. [continues 580 words]
PHOENIX -- Arizonans would buy nearly $500 million worth of marijuana a year by 2020 if voters agree in November to allow its use here for recreational purposes, according to a new report. The study by the staff of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee figures legalization would generate nearly $82 million in taxes when the program is fully implemented. That includes $74 million based on a tax rate of 15 percent of retail costs, with the balance coming from things like licensing dealers and growers. [continues 556 words]
PHOENIX - The campaign hasn't even started. But a new poll released Wednesday shows more than half of Arizonans are ready to legalize recreational use of marijuana. The survey of 701 adult heads of households by the Behavior Research Center found 53 percent who said they support legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use. Another 39 percent were opposed. The poll comes as two different groups are circulating petitions to say it would no longer be a crime for anyone 21 and older to possess up to an ounce. Both would also set up a network of state-regulated retailers who would also collect a tax, a system similar to alcohol. [continues 637 words]
PHOENIX -- Saying he has concerns about abuse, Attorney General Mark Brnovich late Thursday yanked his formal legal opinion which said public officials can use their offices and resources to "educate" voters on an upcoming ballot measure. In a prepared statement, press aide Kristen Keogh said there were "allegations" that his opinion, issued less than two weeks ago "may have provided an opportunity for potential government abuse." And she said he takes that issue "very seriously." Communications chief Ryan Anderson said the next step is to review the issue and issue a revision that is not only "more clear" but also ensures that the opinion, which can be cited in court cases, is not used in a way that does not protect taxpayer dollars. [continues 325 words]
PHOENIX - Attorney General Mark Brnovich has cleared the way for public officials to use their offices and public resources to "educate" voters on why they believe marijuana should not be made legal. In a new formal opinion, Brnovich acknowledged there are laws prohibiting the use of public funds to influence the outcome of elections - a restriction he noted that applies even before a proposal has qualified for the ballot. But Brnovich said no law prohibits public education campaigns - even ones that are not fair and balanced. He said even one-sided arguments are permitted "so long as they do not unambiguously urge the electorate to cast a vote for or against the measure." [continues 610 words]
PHOENIX - Attorney General Mark Brnovich has cleared the way for public officials to use their offices and resources to "educate" voters on why they believe marijuana should not be made legal. In a new formal opinion, Brnovich acknowledged various laws prohibit the use of public funds to influence the outcome of elections. And the attorney general said that restriction applies even before a proposal has qualified for the ballot. But Brnovich said nothing in these laws precludes public education campaigns - even ones that are not fair and balanced. He said even one-sided arguments are permitted "so long as they do not unambiguously urge the electorate to cast a vote for or against the measure." [continues 620 words]
PHOENIX -- Arizona's chief health officer is proposing to make it more difficult to add new conditions to the list for which doctors can recommend the drug. The change would require "clear and convincing evidence' published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, that there is some benefit from the use of marijuana to humans for the specified medical condition. State Health Director Will Humble said that probably means multiple articles. That's a big change from the current regulations which allow consideration of "a summary of the evidence' that marijuana will either help treat the condition or at least provide some relief from symptoms. And while the current rules also ask for articles in scientific journals, there is no mandate that the research be "evidence based' -- or that the conclusions be clear and convincing. [continues 470 words]
Medicinal marijuana Medicinal marijuana [Tribune file] The head of the organization offering to fund a study on medical marijuana at the University of Arizona said he will pull the cash unless the school restores fired doctor and researcher Sue Sisley to the staff and the project. Rick Doblin told Capitol Media Services Tuesday he rejected offers by UA officials to have someone other than Sisley named as "principal investigator" for the study on whether marijuana is useful for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder. Doblin, executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, said his group has four years of history with Sisley and will move its funding wherever she goes. The UA is apparently unwilling to budge, however. [continues 1000 words]
Phoenix, AZ - Calling it good for agriculture, two Lake Havasu City GOP lawmakers are pushing to allow farmers to grow hemp without running afoul of state marijuana laws. "I'm not a big proponent of marijuana," Sen. Kelli Ward told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday. "I am a proponent of economic development and ways to help Arizona to thrive." And what that means, she said, is removing at least one legal hurdle that keeps Arizona farmers out of the hemp business: SB 1122 would say that the laws against marijuana do not apply if the concentration of THC, the psychoactive elements, is less than three-tenths of one percent. [continues 632 words]
PHOENIX - Counties cannot do an end-run around the Medical Marijuana Act by changing their zoning laws to make it impossible to open a dispensary, a judge ruled Monday. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Gordon said it's one thing for counties to use their local powers to prohibit illegal activities. And he said that's the way the county's ordinance read - until August. But Gordon said the new version is worded in a way that it "categorically prohibits medical marijuana dispensaries." The judge called that little more than "a transparent attempt to prevent implementation of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act" in the areas where the Board of Supervisors controls the zoning. [continues 383 words]
The group that helped get Arizona a medical marijuana law in 2010 is now gearing up for a 2016 ballot measure to allow any adult to use the drug for recreational purposes. Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said Tuesday his group is buoyed by the announcement last month by the Obama administration that the Department of Justice will not try to void voter-approved laws in Colorado and Washington making recreational use of the drug legal. That, he said, paves the way for expansion of the concept into 10 other states, including Arizona. [continues 789 words]
PHOENIX - A decision Thursday by U.S. Department of Justice not to challenge marijuana legalization by two states does not make Arizona's medical marijuana law legal or acceptable, key prosecutors said. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said he will not drop his bid to have the state's 2010 voter-approved law declared illegal, noting possession and sale of marijuana is still a federal crime, regardless of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to let Colorado and Washington legalize the drug. [continues 535 words]
PHOENIX - A decision Thursday by U.S. Department of Justice not to challenge marijuana legalization by two states does not make Arizona's own medical marijuana law any more legal or acceptable, key prosecutors said. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said he will not drop his bid to have the state's 2010 voter-approved law declared illegal. Montgomery said that, no matter what U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says about letting Colorado and Washington legalize marijuana, possession and sale of the drug remains a federal crime. [continues 795 words]
PHOENIX - Medical marijuana patients whose drugs are taken by police are entitled to get it back, the Arizona Supreme Court has ruled. In a brief order, the justices rejected arguments by prosecutors that the drug is strictly regulated by the federal government, leaving police legally powerless to turn marijuana over to anyone else. They gave no reason for their ruling. The order most immediately affects Valerie Okun, whose drugs were taken from her nearly two years ago on Interstate 8 near Yuma. While she was never prosecuted - she has a valid medical marijuana card from California - sheriff's deputies refused to return the drugs. [continues 416 words]