MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWSUIT DISMISSED

Medical marijuana patients in Arizona who have either had to grow
their own cannabis or purchase unregulated strains on the street may
be afforded the same availability for their medicine as seen in
California and Colorado.

A lawsuit filed by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer challenging the
legality of the state's voter-approved medical marijuana law was
dismissed Jan. 4.

Brewer filed the lawsuit in May, just before the Arizona Depart-ment
of Health Services was to begin issuing licenses to businesses that
wanted to open nonprofit medical marijuana dispensaries. The ADHS is
responsible for overseeing and implementing the Arizona Medical
Marijuana Act. Due to the lawsuit, the ADHS and its director, Will
Humble, suspended the application process for dispensaries May 27,
2011. The ruling seemingly gives Humble a green light to begin
processing dispensary applications if Brewer decides not to appeal. A
spokesperson for the governor, Matthew Benson, said Brewer would
consult with Attorney General Tom Horne before deciding to file an appeal.

Brewer previously stated she filed the lawsuit to seek clarification
as to whether federal law that makes cannabis illegal trumps the
state law and if state workers face possible federal prosecution for
implementing the state law.

United States District Court Judge Susan Bolton ruled in favor of a
motion filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and dismissed the
case. In her order, Judge Bolton said the state could file an amended
complaint, but it would have to show how state employees are
threatened by prosecution from the federal government and how any
harm can come if the court doesn't give a ruling.

"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 of 1970) or any threat of prosecution for any reason
by federal officials."

Judge Bolton said because of the lack of evidence, Brewer's complaint
is not appropriate for judicial review.

ACLU Attorney Ezekiel Edwards lauded the judge's decision and
implored Brewer to implement the law.

"The majority of voters in Arizona passed a statute to regulate
marijuana as medicine," Edwards said. "They're just obstructing the
will of the voters."

Brewer and Horne previously said they decided to file a lawsuit
seeking clarification after former Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke
wrote a letter that said the federal government still considers
distributing cannabis to be illegal. Cannabis is listed as a Schedule
I drug with a "high potential for abuse, (and) no currently accepted
medical use" on the Drug Enforcement Agency's schedule of drugs.
Other Schedule I drugs are heroin, LSD, peyote and ecstasy. Schedule
II drugs that can be prescribed to a patient include cocaine,
morphine, opium, oxycodone and methamphetamine. Until cannabis'
classification is changed to at least a Schedule II drug, physicians
cannot officially prescribe it and can only give patients their
recommendation to use it.

In his letter (and others sent by other federal prosecutors), Burke
stressed that he would abide by earlier policies discouraging
prosecution of medical marijuana patients and would focus on
large-scale for profit operations. His letter didn't mention anything
regarding state employees, but he later told reporters that he had no
intention of prosecuting state workers.

Arizona became the 16th state to allow medical marijuana after voters
passed the AMMA on Nov. 2, 2010, and it became law Dec. 14, 2010.
According to the proposition, its purpose "is to protect patients
with debilitating medical conditions, as well as their physicians and
providers, from arrest and prosecution, criminal and other penalties
and property forfeiture if such patients engage in the medical use of
marijuana."

Under the law, qualifying patients can possess up to 2.5 ounces of
cannabis every two weeks, and a caregiver - who can assist up to five
patients - can possess 2.5 ounces every two weeks per patient. That
means a caregiver can possess 15 ounces of cannabis every two weeks
if they themselves are a qualified patient and are a caregiver for
five other qualified patients.

Additionally, if a patient lives more than 25 miles from a medical
marijuana dispensary, the patient can cultivate up to 12 cannabis
plants and caregivers can cultivate up to 12 plants per patient. That
means if a caregiver who is a patient and has five patients who all
live more than 25 miles from a dispensary, that person is permitted
by state law to cultivate up to 72 plants. Since Brewer's lawsuit
halted the dispensary process, all patients who have received a
medical marijuana card are permitted to grow their own medicine under
state law. To date, the state has issued nearly 18,000 medical
marijuana cards and about 15,000 patients have requested permission
to grow the plant themselves.

The ADHS has approved locations for 126 potential dispensaries
throughout the state - one for every Community Heath Analysis Area
which equates to one for roughly every 10 regulated pharmacies.

The CHAA for Safford consists of southern Graham County and takes in
the Gila Valley. Graham County and the municipalities of Safford,
Thatcher and Pima all created dispensary zoning regulations in
preparation for a dispensary. If an applicant is compliant with local
zoning ordinances, a dispensary may be located in any of the jurisdictions.

The Gila Valley would likely see a dispensary because the ADHS
previously added incentives to encourage dispensary applicants to
open in rural areas. One incentive would allow a rural dispensary
with a limited number of patients the ability to transfer its
inventory to urban dispensaries with more patients.

Another incentive is a provision that allows rural dispensaries to
move anywhere in the state after three years. In his blog, Humble
stated he hopes dispensary applicants will decide to apply in rural
areas because there is likely to be stiff competition for the CHAA's
in urban areas. If there is more than one applicant in a CHAA, the
applicants will be evaluated on a set of standards, including whether
the dispensary has access to $150,000 in start-up capital, whether
the applicant has previously filed for bankruptcy, whether an
applicant has been a resident of Arizona for at least three years and
whether an applicant has outstanding taxes or fees. If the applicants
rank the same, the ADHS will approve dispensaries at random.

According to Safford Police Chief John Griffin, there has been
interest in a Highway 70 property to be utilized as a dispensary.
Griffin said he would rather have the one, regulated dispensary than
allowing all of the patients to grow their own cannabis in their
homes, which could possibly increase criminal behavior, such as
burglary and theft.

There are five other lawsuits currently pending regarding the AMMA.
One was filed by Humble against cannabis clubs to stop them from
distributing the plant, and four were filed against the state of
Arizona for its failure to implement the voter-approved law.