If you’ve been craving a dose of “Reefer Madness,” there’s still time to RSVP to Thursday’s annual conference of the central Arizona anti-drug organization MATForce. The public portion of the conference runs from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors auditorium, 205 West Jefferson Street. The…
Anti-drug educator Shane Watson often thinks about his appearance in a viral ABC 15 news story about the “threat” of dabbing. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that for a short period of time, it ruined my life,” says Watson, who works for the local drug-prevention organization notMYkid. He’s not…
Smoking concentrated marijuana oil is exploding in popularity, with many cases nationwide of amateur chemists experiencing explosions in their homes. Manufacturing and use of the substance comes with risks not seen with “normal” pot: Scorched skin when using the red-hot smoking apparatus is inevitable, aficionados say. Longtime marijuana advocates and…
Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot told the media last summer that returning marijuana to a medicinal user was “not how we do business.” But Wilmot did not return calls or even issue a statement this morning after the U.S. Supreme Court decided — by its inaction — that Wilmot must…
In a ruling with wide impact on the Arizona medical-marijuana program, Zander Welton and his family have won their battle to provide extracts to the boy for his seizures. The East Valley family sued on October 29 in Maricopa County Superior Court, receiving legal help from the American Civil Liberties…
Arizonans who want to fight marijuana legalization in this state have two strong allies in powerful positions: State Senator Kimberly Yee and Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk. Like would-be leaders of a modern-day women’s temperance movement, the two Arizona politicians share a strong belief that cannabis users deserve to be…
The Yavapai County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Monday in support of the continued jailing and prosecution of marijuana users. Influenced by Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, a staunch marijuana foe, the 4-0 vote for a resolution in favor of prohibition was calculated to help derail planned legalization efforts…
A humorous TV ad featuring a back-alley sushi dealer is getting called the first commercial promoting marijuana ever to run on “mainstream” television. Cable mega-company Comcast signed a deal with MarijuanaDoctors.com to start airing the ad for two weeks in New Jersey on Fox, CNN, A&E, and other cable networks…
Bill Montgomery has been stymied in two separate cases of medical-marijuana patients who possessed small amounts of concentrated marijuana. Records show that the Republican county attorney will continue to try to saddle one of the valid patients with a felony conviction. But before we tell you about the patient, we…
A Laveen-based group shipped nearly two tons of pot through the U.S. Mail in the past three years, a federal indictment states. Oneil Watson (a.k.a. Richard Powell), was indicted on Friday, and Kerry Ann Hoo, Marlon Powell, Albert Kelly, Rebekah Robertson and Priscilla Zuniga were indicted on February 25th in…
A little more than half of Arizonans are in favor of legalizing marijuana, according to the latest poll on the subject.The Behavior Research Center’s Rocky Mountain Poll asked more than 700 Arizona residents whether they believe the sale of marijuana should be made legal. Fifty-one percent were in favor, and…
Arizona veterans and people 65 and older would get a big break from the state on the cost of a medical-marijuana card in 2015 under proposed rule changes. Since 2010’s historic vote granting Arizonans the freedom to use medical marijuana legally, the fee for obtaining a registration card has been…
The fight for a medical-marijuana dispensary on unincorporated Maricopa County land won a key victory on Wednesday with the Board of Supervisors lifting its ban on the shops. But the five Supervisors — one Democrat and four Republicans — and the county attorney continue to see the case as their…
J.P. Holyoak cuts an intense presence as he prepares to guide news media members and a couple of local state representatives through his medical-marijuana cultivation facility. He appears even more stressed than the average late-30s man with three kids should be. Standing outside the nondescript brick-and-concrete industrial building in a…
Maps released by the state health department show the areas around the state that have the most medical-marijuana patients.All these hot spots are in the Phoenix area, and most are around North Phoenix, Scottsdale, and the East Valley…
On Wednesday, Colorado will make U.S. history when the country’s first retail marijuana stores open to all adults 21 and over. Colorado is connected to Arizona at the famed Four Corners Monument. If you already like its wonderful, camping, mountain fun, hiking, and hunting, you now have another good reason…
Arizona’s medical-marijuana dispensaries sold more than 2.5 tons of marijuana in the past 12 months, officials say. From December 6th, 2012 — opening day for the state’s first state-authorized dispensary, Arizona Organix — to December 9th of this year, 5,279 pounds of marijuana were sold, according to the Arizona Department…
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery’s bad advice to County Supervisors on medical marijuana has resulted in less county control of dispensary locations. The county is now prohibited from imposing any of its own restrictions on a planned dispensary for Sun City because the county failed to comply with a previous…
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on Monday in Maricopa County Superior Court to resolve the issue of medical-marijuana extracts for a seizure-plagued boy. Saying an oil from a low-THC strain of marijuana has dramatically reduced the seizures suffered by 5-year-old Zander Welton, the ACLU and the Weltons…
Watch your step, medical-marijuana users: Phoenix police say they might bust you for holding the wrong kind of cookie. In researching this week’s cover story about marijuana food products and concentrates, “Half Baked,” New Times asked police to clarify their position on the preparations of marijuana not protected by the…
Senator John McCain appears to be down with marijuana legalization.Hey, instead of a legacy as the guy who was always trying to send the country’s military to some country you’ve never heard of, how about a legacy as the guy who spearheaded marijuana prohibition?…
In another victory for pro-legalization forces, a new Obama Administration policy announced today takes a mostly hand-off approach to state marijuana laws. The news by the U.S. Justice Department comes as a long-awaited response to last year’s elections in Colorado and Washington that legalized the use and sale of marijuana…
