In this week's cover story, Ray Stern reports on certain preparations of marijuana that some prosecutors think is still illegal for dispensaries and medical-marijuana users.
It seems strange, since the voter-approved Medical Marijuana Act allows patients to possess marijuana buds and "any mixture or preparation thereof."
See also:
-Medical-Pot Edibles Are Legal, but Prosecutors and Cops Aren't Backing Off
-Phoenix Police: "Medibles" Will Be Tested for Extracts
Some Debbie Downers, however, are pointing to an archaic law they say makes some preparations of marijuana illegal.
From Stern's story:
In 2011, though, cops and prosecutors took another look at the Arizona criminal code and found a loophole for themselves: Another statute, this one decades old, defines a "narcotic" called "cannabis" as the "resin extracted" from any part of the plant and "every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such resin of tetrahydrocannabinol [THC]."With direction from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, Phoenix police confirmed yesterday that they're prepared to use a crime lab to test "medibles" to see if they have any of this allegedly illegal resin in there, Stern reported yesterday.
It's an inaccurate definition, experts agree. For one thing, where it says "cannabis," it probably meant "hashish." Regardless, the new law seems to allow extracts with its "any mixture or preparation thereof" clause and arguably should trump the old law.
It seems pretty clear from the Medical Marijuana Act that "any mixture or preparation thereof" means, you know, any mixture or preparation thereof.
What do you think? Should any type of "medible" product be off-limits to patients or producers?
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Follow Matthew Hendley on Twitter at @MatthewHendley.
