Arizona Governor's Medical Marijuana Lawsuit Dismissed

StopTheDrugWar
Philip Smith

A federal judge Wednesday threw out a lawsuit filed on behalf of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) that had blocked the implementation of the state's voter-approved medical marijuana dispensary program. Brewer and state health officials had sued to ask the court for clarification about whether the state's medical marijuana law was preempted by federal drug laws, saying they feared going forward would put state employees at risk of federal prosecution.

But US District Court Judge Susan Bolton dismissed the lawsuit, saying the state had not shown that federal prosecutors there had threatened to prosecute state or local employees for following the law, nor had it shown that any harm would come absent a ruling from the court.

"Plaintiffs do not challenge any specific action taken by any defendant," Bolton wrote. "Plaintiffs also do not describe any actions by state employees that were in violation of (the Controlled Substances Act) or any threat of prosecution for any reason by federal officials. These issues, as presented, are not appropriate for judicial review."

Brewer spokesman Matthew Benson told the Arizona Republic the governor was consulting with Attorney General Tom Horne before deciding whether to appeal. He also criticized the decision.

"What this court has essentially said is that it won't hear the state's lawsuit unless and until a state employee faces federal prosecution for enforcing Proposition 203," Benson said. "The federal court has essentially punted on the issue."

The ruling came in response to a motion to dismiss filed by the ACLU, which welcomed the decision and called on Brewer to quit being an obstacle.

“It is unconscionable for Gov. Brewer to continue to force very sick people to needlessly suffer by stripping them of the legal avenue through which to obtain their vital medicine," said Ezekiel Edwards, director of the ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project. "Today's ruling underscores the need for state officials to stop playing politics and implement the law as approved by a majority of Arizona voters so that thousands of patients can access the medicine their doctors believe is most effective for them."

Under Arizona's medical marijuana law, passed in 2010, patients registered with the state are supposed to be able to obtain medical marijuana from tightly-regulated dispensaries, but that hasn't happened yet. Now, one more hurdle has been removed.

Phoenix, AZ

United States

Washington’s top five most ridiculous reactions to the Arizona shooting

By Chris Moody 

The Daily Caller

It’s a well-worn mantra in politics to never let a crisis go to waste, so it comes as little surprise that public officials and the chattering class are wasting no time in dusting off some of their wilder ideas in the aftermath of the tragic shooting in Tucson, Arizona.

With only a few days detached from the national tragedy, here’s the list of the top five most ridiculous proposals already floated by your national leaders and thinkers.

1. Encase the entire House and Senate floor with Plexiglass so the tourists can’t throw things at members of Congress 

Tourists (who reportedly don’t smell very good during the warmer months) file into the congressional galleries every day to watch members wax poetic in front of empty chairs and bored teenage pages. To keep members safe, Indiana Republican Rep. Dan Burton will re-introduce a bill that would encase himself and his colleagues in “a transparent and substantial material.” Burton has called for Congress to be more like an inner-city 7-11 before, but this time, people are actually listening.
Just last week, a protester on a quest for President Obama’s birth certificate interrupted the reading of the U.S. Constitution on the House floor by shouting down the speaker. If Burton’s dream becomes reality, he will finally be protected from such outbursts by the unwashed masses.
(An investigative review of his campaign donations does not reveal any major contributions from the infamous Plexiglass lobby, which everyone knows really pulls the strings in this country.)

2. Impose a federal ban on carrying a firearm within 1,000 feet of any “high-profile” public official 

New York Republican Rep. Peter King, with full approval from New York City’s freedom-loving mayor Michael Bloomberg, has vowed to introduce a bill that keeps all guns at least 1,000 feet from from him at all times.
The call for thousands of constantly roving gun-free zones all over the country probably won’t pass constitutional muster and would be impossible to enforce. It would also effectively ban any member of Congress from all shooting ranges, which would be a shame, because rifles actually make Sen. Harry Reid, a fierce NRA supporter, look pretty awesome.
(Nevermind that at least two of King’s colleagues, Rep. Heath Shuler, North Carolina Democrat, and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Utah Republican, have said they want a firearm within an inch of them at all times.)

3. Make it illegal to draw pictures of elected officials within crosshairs or say things that might be considered ‘threatening’ to lawmakers


Democrat Rep. Robert Brady of Pennsylvania wants to know what you’re photo-shopping to make sure you don’t draw a crosshair symbol (it’s a “surveyor symbol” officer, I swear!) on a map of his district.
“You can’t threaten the president with a bull’s-eye or a cross hair,” he said when describing the idea for his bill.

Some have tied Saturday’s shooting to political messaging ads used by both Republicans and Democrats that show districts they hope to capture as “targets.”

4. Use the Federal Communication Commission’s power to finally get that dastardly Rush Limbaugh off the air (or at least get him to stop being so mean)


Highly ranking House Democrat Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina said this week he wants to reimpose the so-called “Fairness Doctrine,” which would force radio and television broadcasters to bring guests they disagree with on air and provide equal time to “both” sides of an issue.
“Free speech is as free speech does,” told the Charleston Post and Courier. “You cannot yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theater and call it free speech and some of what I hear, and is being called free speech, is worse than that.”

According to the paper, Clyburn’s daughter, an FCC commissioner, said she opposes her dad’s idea “any way shape or form.”

5. Since the alleged Tucson gunman liked to smoke pot, the federal government should impose tougher drug laws

Last but not least, take it away, former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum:

After horrific shootings, we hear calls for stricter regulation of guns. The Tucson shooting should remind us why we regulate marijuana.

Jared Lee Loughner, the man held as the Tucson shooter, has been described by those who know as a “pot smoking loner.”

He had two encounters with the law, one for possession of drug paraphanalia.
We are also learning that Loughner exhibited signs of severe mental illness, very likely schizophrenia.

The connection between marijuana and schizophrenia is both controversial and complicated. The raw association is strong:

• Schizophrenics are twice as likely to smoke marijuana
  
  as non-schizophrenics.
  
• People who smoke marijuana are twice as likely to develop schizophrenia as those who do not smoke.

But is correlation causation?
Increasingly experts seem to be saying: “Yes.”

Obama drug-policy adviser says the administration opposes marijuana legalization and isn’t big on medical marijuana

Billings Gazette

HELENA — The Obama administration adamantly opposes legalizing marijuana and has a dubious view of medical marijuana, a top White House drug policy adviser said here Thursday night.

Kevin Sabet, special adviser for policy at the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, said marijuana is a dangerous drug that causes documented health and social problems, and should not be subject to voter approval for its use.

“Marijuana cannot be the one exception in history of the world that doesn’t go through a scientific process to be approved as medicine,” he told the Montana Supreme Court Administrator’s annual drug court conference in Helena. “It doesn’t make any sense.

“How can we imagine that a dangerous, illegal drug like marijuana should be voted on by the people? That’s not how we do medicine in this country.”

Montana voters in 2004 approved a medical marijuana program for the state, allowing people with debilitating diseases to get a doctor’s approval to possess and smoke or otherwise ingest marijuana.

The program had only a few thousand users until a year ago, when the U.S. Justice Department issued a memo to federal prosecutors, telling them that pursuing medical marijuana patients or their caregivers is not a priority in states that have approved medical marijuana.

Since then, Montana’s number of medical marijuana cardholders has increased by nearly 20,000. Various traveling “clinics” have criss-crossed the state, sometimes issuing hundreds of cards in a single day.

Sabet said the Justice Department memo has been “widely misinterpreted” by the media and proponents of legalizing marijuana, and that it does not give marijuana growers or suppliers a blank check to produce pot in states with medical marijuana programs.

“If you actually read the memo, it’s very sensible,” he said. “(But) it didn’t take more than a week for us to put out our own clarifying statement: That people cannot hide behind medical marijuana as a guise for legalization.”

The memo, penned by Deputy Attorney General David Ogden last October, says federal prosecutors shouldn’t focus on medical marijuana patients or caregivers who are “in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state law.”

However, it also says this recommendation does not legalize marijuana in these states, provide any legal defense to violation of federal drug laws, or protect those using medical marijuana laws “as a pretext for the production or distribution of marijuana for purposes not authorized by state law.”

Sabet said he believes medical marijuana programs are part of a strategy to legalize marijuana, and that the Obama administration is staunchly opposed to legalization.

Research shows that marijuana use causes health problems, can be addictive, and kills and injures people on roadways, among other things, he said.

Legalizing marijuana will increase its usage, increase arrests for drug-related behavior and won’t eliminate a black market for the drug, Sabet said.

“Our two legal drugs, tobacco and alcohol, serve as frightening examples of legalization,” he said. “Look at the alcohol industry. It does not make money off the 10 people who drink one drink a week. It makes money off of the one person who drinks 50 drinks a week. Addiction is incentivized in this business.”

Sabet also said legalization proponents have created a “false dichotomy” by suggesting the only alternatives are legalization or a harsh, punitive approach that emphasizes incarceration.

Those aren’t the only options, and the Obama administration favors an approach that pairs treatment with law enforcement, to reduce illegal drug usage and addiction without sending people to prison, he said.