Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery received some bad news on Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court has sided with the voters and medical marijuana.
According to Phoenix New Times, the Arizona Supreme Court denied Montgomery’s petition “to review a December state Court of Appeals ruling in White Mountain Health v. Maricopa County/Montgomery.”
By declining Montgomery’s petition, the high court has acknowledged the lower Court of Appeals ruling, which found federal law does not circumvent Arizona’s 2010 voter-approved medical marijuana act. According to Tucson.com, “The lower court said the fact that marijuana remains a felony under federal law does not preempt the state from deciding to decriminalize it for some.”
While great news, there was one caveat.
The lower court, in their earlier decision, acknowledged the unsettling fact that no provisions in the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act prohibit federal prosecution of any patient or stakeholder “by federal authorities under federal law.”
Assisted by Arizona’s ACLU and the American Civil Liberties Union, White Mountain Health has won a major victory for Arizona’s 120,000 medical marijuana patients.
credit:marijuana.com