If the feds decide to pull up their jackboots and bust state employees for administering Arizona’s medical-marijuana program, the director of the state Department of Health Services could be a target.After all, Will Humble is the boss at DHS, the state agency that will be approving applications for dispensaries and…
The freedom to grow marijuana granted by the state’s 2010 medical-pot law is blossoming along with the plants in an El Mirage warehouse.Bill Hayes, founder of the Arizona Cannabis Society, invited New Times inside last week for a peek at their operation. (See our slideshow of the tour here.) A…
A new lawsuit over Arizona’s Medical Marijuana Act targets the provision that bans patients and caregivers from growing pot within 25 miles of an open dispensary.Bill Hayes, a marijuana activist and qualified patient who lives in Surprise, argues in a federal complaint filed yesterday that the provision violates the equal…
Followers of the highs and lows of Arizona’s Medical Marijuana Act should enjoy the newly released transcript of the federal court hearing that ended Governor Jan Brewer’s anti-pot lawsuit.The January 4 dismissal of Brewer’s lawsuit, which was clearly intended to thwart a new medical marijuana law, came after a December…
The first state-authorized medical marijuana dispensaries will likely open in Arizona this summer, said Will Humble, director of the state Department of Health Services.Humble, addressing TV viewers minutes ago on Channel 8’s (KAET-TV) Horizon news show, said his agency would be awarding the first licenses by mid-June.”If someone was really…
Pulmonary Associates, with 15 doctors and six Valley locations, focuses on modern treatment techniques and claims on its Web site to be “in the forefront of our field.”But when asked about the effects of smoking marijuana on lungs, not one of those doctors returned New Times’ repeated calls.Nor was the…
Arizona needs to start up the 2010 Medical Marijuana Act as voters intended, but without several of the rules designed to restrict dispensary applicants, a judge has ordered.Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Richard Gama ruled on the Compassion First, LLC, lawsuit yesterday, noting that voters wanted the Act implemented 120…
Under Arizona’s Medical Marijuana Act, motorists with state-issued pot cards can legally transport a small amount of “medicine” in their vehicles — but not on tribal lands.And those Native American lands include a strip of the Loop 101 freeway that runs from south of McKellips Road to the Pima Road/90th…
Brahm Resnik of Channel 12 News (KPNX-TV) just tweeted that Governor Jan Brewer “indicates she will refile lawsuit to block medical marijuana law.” UPDATE: We watched Resnik’s report — looks like he got this one wrong. In his 10 p.m. broadcast, Brewer can be seen at an event talking about the medical marijuana lawsuit…
Governor Jan Brewer and her legal counsel will study today’s dismissal of her lawsuit against the medical marijuana law while keeping a ban on dispensaries, a spokesman says.Brewer, with the help of state Attorney General Tom Horne, filed the federal complaint back in May, claiming a letter by a former…
A federal judge today tossed Governor Jan Brewer’s lawsuit against the state’s Medical Marijuana Act, saying in her ruling that the state’s complaint wasn’t ripe.U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton dismissed the case without prejudice and invited the state to file an amended complaint to correct the flaws in their argument…
Two hunters found 126 pounds of bundled pot lying in the desert near Sasabe, about a month after Border Patrol agents discovered 220 pounds of pot south of Dateland.Arizona’s desert has apparently become a treasure-hunters paradise — if your idea of treasure is tens of thousands of dollars worth of…
The Sinaloa drug cartel recently suffered what local law enforcement agencies are considering a “significant blow” — a 15-month investigation has led to the arrest of more than 200 people, the seizure of hundreds of pounds of various drugs, and close to $8 million in cash.Just how “significant” a blow…
“No sir it wasn’t me, sir — I swear it wasn’t!”That’s what Jermaine “Huggy” Hopkins, the fat kid in the film Lean on Me, famously told his prickly principal (played by Morgan Freeman) to get out of a jam in the 1989 classic.The line apparently didn’t work as well on…
Governor Jan Brewer’s lawsuit against Arizona’s medical marijuana law took a beating today in federal court, where a judge told the state’s lawyers to pick a side on the issue.Brewer and her legal enforcer in the case, state Attorney General Tom Horne, campaigned against Prop 203 before voters passed it…
Three men being sought by the Arizona Department of Public Safety are suspected of helping to smuggle tons of pot for various Mexican cartels.Christian Palacios, a Valley resident and the only U.S. citizen in the trio, and two Mexican nationals, Julio Cesar Alavarado Yanez and Osvaldo Moreno Herrera, were higher-ups…
Tempe police teamed up with Nevada authorities this week to bust the Yoki A Ma’ medical marijuana club, arresting six people.It’s the latest arrest of people accused of operating clubs that distributed medical marijuana to state-registered patients, and the second to involve a business named in the legal action against…
All charges have been dropped from September’s high-profile bust by the Drug Enforcement Agency of a Tempe medical marijuana clinic.The DEA arrested James Chaney and Rachel Beeder of Arizona Go Green Co-Op on September 29 following a morning raid on the clinic and Chaney’s Phoenix home. About 60 or 70…
Maybe one reason marijuana prohibition is still in effect is this:Law officers face being fired merely for stating publicly their views on legalization.That was the case for Joe Miller, a former Mohave County probation officer whose supervisors terminated him after his name appeared on a letter — with 31 other…
The rate of Arizonans applying for medical-marijuana cards has slowed down in the last couple of months, a stat that could indicate public confusion about pot’s newfound legality. A quick look at a recent update on the state Department of Health Services website shows that 14,852 people have been approved to legally possess…
Richard Valdemar believes the central character of his medical-marijuana story would be executed by a Mexican drug cartel if he was named, so he refers to him as “Winnie.”As Valdemar relates in newly released cable-and-Internet-show video and recent article in a police magazine, Winnie is the son of two Northern…
Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies claim to have delivered a “death blow” to a Mexican drug trafficking ring that was running $33 million worth of drugs through Arizona every month.Authorities announced this morning the results of “Operation Pipeline Express,” a 17-month investigation into a drug trafficking ring that…
