Questions by New Times about statistics related to marijuana and driving have caused Arizona officials to make changes to state traffic-accident reports. New check-boxes referencing marijuana will be added to accident forms, possibly as soon as next year, says Alberto Gutier, director of the Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety…
The nation has seen six years of legal medical or recreational marijuana use in 23 states and Washington, D.C., not to mention decades of widespread illegal use, but experts still have no real idea whether the drug poses any significant danger. What is certain is that marijuana is the second…
The Arizona Supreme Court decided today that people with a medical marijuana card are not automatically immune from DUI laws if they are pulled over and found to have “marijuana or its metabolite” in their systems. The ruling overturned an earlier decision by the court of appeals that, as David…
A Chandler medical-marijuana lawyer’s license could go up in smoke in a State Bar of Arizona discipline case that involves accusations of shady deals, backstabbing her own clients, and making a dishonest grab for tainted cash. The allegations of ethical misconduct, conflict of interest and lying appear in an explosive…
The Campaign to Legalize Marijuana Like Alcohol in Arizona announced today that it’s collected 100,000 signatures, or 2/3 of what it needs to get The Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act on the November 2016 ballot. CRMLA still needs to get at least 50,000 more valid signatures by July, though…
In an effort to boost turnout among young voters, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) held a “national student town hall” meeting that was live-streamed at colleges and universities across the country, including to Arizona State University. A throng of students gathered at ASU’s Tempe campus Wednesday evening to hear the…
As 27-year-old veteran Jose Martinez ambled on his prosthetic legs, a crutch tucked under what remains of his amputated right arm, a stranger approached him. “I’m sorry about what happened to you,” the man said. “I lived, sir,” Martinez replied. “I’m walking. I’m talking. I’m living. Don’t feel sorry for…
Cannabis enthusiasts rolled into the Phoenix Convention Center Tuesday for the second day of the Southwest Cannabis Conference and Expo. The three-day marijuana conference, which kicked off Monday with a job fair, hosted hundreds of weed-related businesses, products, and professionals in Arizona’s growing cannabis industry. Packing the convention center at…
In the latest sign of marijuana going mainstream, a three-day marijuana-industry conference at the Phoenix Convention Center kicked off this week with a well-attended job fair. The main events of the Southwest Cannabis Conference and Expo will take place today and Wednesday, featuring about 300 exhibition booths, guest speakers and…
A new billboard in Phoenix promoting a ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana for adults in Arizona is receiving mixed reviews on social media by cannabis supporters, some of whom declare it conveys the wrong message.. The advertisement near 7th and Lincoln streets is meant to poke fun at pot prohibitionists,…
The county’s top prosecutor, an avid marijuana prohibitionist, has issued a “polite” waning to business owners, community members, and pot aficionados planning to attend the Southwest Cannabis Conference and Expo at the Phoenix Convention Center later this month: We might be watching you. During a presentation on drug abuse this…
A new public-service announcement from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office about the evils of heroin curiously shows an image of people apparently smoking marijuana. The short, publicly funded PSA begins at three minutes, 57 seconds into the 44:21 video of Montgomery’s semi-weekly news conference. With a striking graphic of the…
The blunt realities of the state’s medical-marijuana industry are exposed in a remarkable ruling on a lawsuit between business partners that features allegations ranging from a “lack of financial controls” to a shady seed deal in a parking lot. The lawsuit’s between the two partners of Uncle Herbs of Payson,…
This is not a lede from The Onion, but it could be: Anti-dug crusader and former, high ranking U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official Sheriff Joe Arpaio is scheduled to speak to seniors this week at a pro-pot event in Sun City. Sure, Arpaio regularly kvetches about illicit drugs like marijuana…
At the beginning of this month, Oregon became the third state where adults 21 and older can buy marijuana at retail stores — and Arizona may not be far behind. But the pro-legalization movement and even Arizona’s medical-marijuana program could still be derailed in the next few years by court rulings…
An Arizona State University student and qualified patient under Arizona’s medical-marijuana law has been found guilty of possessing marijuana under a disputed law that altered the state’s voter-approved, 2010 Medical Marijuana Act by banning the plant from public college campuses. The 2010 law already had prohibited possession even by qualified…
A campaign to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older in Arizona has picked up 75,000 signatures already, an achievement that makes the proposal ever more likely to appear on the state’s 2016 ballot. J.P. Holyoak, chair of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, says today that his group…
A Mesa boy whose family won a major medical-marijuana court ruling in 2014 following threats from prosecutors has died at age 7. The life and legacy of Zander Welton will be celebrated at a service on Saturday that will be open to the public, says his mother, Jennifer Welton. “What…
In a sign that may bode well for legalization in Arizona next year, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper sounds surprisingly upbeat about his state’s bold marijuana law in an interview with our sister publication, Westword. Opponents of planned ballot measures in Arizona for the November 2016 election often point to Colorado…
A group of scientists and activists are coming to Phoenix later this month to talk about the “science” of marijuana in what appears to be another publicly funded prohibitionist political event. The all-day affair, “Marijuana: The Science and the Experiment,” promises to share “true scientific facts” about the alleged harms…
The Southwest Cannabis Conference and Expo will roll into the Phoenix Convention Center for three days in October, with 300 exhibitors, prominent guest speakers, a job fair, and other events expected to draw thousands. (Full disclosure: New Times is the media sponsor of the conference, along with the title sponsor,…
Arizona’s medical-marijuana patients now can patronize newly opened dispensaries in Reno and Las Vegas and possess up to 2.5 ounces anywhere in Nevada. Arizona, like some of the other 23 states with medical-marijuana laws, allows people with valid medical cards from other states to legally possess marijuana in Arizona, but…
