UNCLEAR LAWS LEAVE MEDICAL POT IN HAZE

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer doesn't have the best track record with her
appeals to federal courts (see: immigration), but she has a point on
this latest one.

Brewer's lawsuit regarding the legality of potential state medical
marijuana dispensaries was dismissed on Wednesday, further delaying
full implementation of the initiative Arizona voters passed in
November. The lawsuit contended, with legitimate concern, that
potential Arizona dispensaries - and state employees - may be in
violation of federal pot laws despite the medical applications. The
U.S. District Court saw no such cause and dismissed the suit, but the
dismissal also means that Brewer can re-file within 30 days.

Arizona voters have gone back and forth on this literally for years.
Voters have thrice passed initiatives relating to medical marijuana
since 1996 when, by a 65-percent margin, medical marijuana use was
passed only to have the Legislature overturn it. That in turn sparked
voters two years later to approve another initiative that prevents the
Legislature from overturning voter-approved initiatives and
referendums. And you know about our vote in November.

Arizona became the 15th state, along with the District of Columbia, to
have passed a medical marijuana law since 1996. The Arizona law allows
patients with "debilitating medical conditions" to use cannabis if
they have a physician's recommendation.

So far, the state has in fact issued thousands of qualified patient
cards to individual marijuana users, and versions of those cards allow
people to possess medical pot and to grow their own.

Dispensaries that sell it are something else.

Facts of the clinical applications of medical marijuana are
uncontroversial. The U.S. Department of Justice ruled that while
nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects,
"marijuana is not such a substance. There is no record in the
extensive medical literature describing a proven, documented
cannabis-induced fatality." A 2009 CBS News probe confirmed that in a
period studied from 1997-2005, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
reported zero deaths caused by the primary use of marijuana, and in
fact that common FDA-approved drugs often prescribed in lieu of
marijuana were the primary cause of more than 10,000 deaths.

Arizona voters are acutely aware of these realities.

Until the feds establish in clear and legal terms that dispensaries
are free from federal selling laws, patients in the most need will
still struggle to legally obtain their medicine in a system that
could, Arizona contends, put those willing and able to sell the
medicine at risk of federal laws. Medical dispensaries and even
medical marijuana growers in other states continue to grapple with
federal raids.

Until such time, the federal-versus-state laws on selling will be
tossed around in court fattening up lawyers, politicians will take
stands, and Arizona voters and card-carrying patients will question
the relevance of unsuccessful ballot initiative processes.