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Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Gordon will hear arguments at 11 a.m. today on a request to stay or suspend his recent ruling on the legality of the state's medical-marijuana law.
Last week, Gordon ruled Arizona's controversial medical-marijuana law does not conflict with federal drug laws and rejected arguments made by Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and Attorney General Tom Horne that state employees would be facilitating federal crimes if they issued licenses to medical-marijuana dispensaries.
Gordon also required the county to issue documents allowing White Mountain Health Center of Sun City to move forward with its effort to open a dispensary.
Montgomery and Horne have filed a motion to suspend Gordon's ruling until their appeal has run its course. In their request, the prosecutors asked the court to "preserve the status quo" pending an appeal, saying, "This case concerns the question of pre-emption by federal law of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, a significant issue of first impression in the Arizona courts. Given that there is no appellate court guidance in Arizona on this important issue, it would be prudent to preserve the status quo and not compel county defendants to take any action that may later prove to be unsupported by Arizona law."
Local attorneys Jeffrey Kaufman and Ezekiel Edwards, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's criminal-law reform project, represent White Mountain Health Center. The lawyers said that neither the stay request nor the appeal has merit and that the judge has already considered Montgomery's argument that county officials would be harmed if they issued zoning documents.
"The argument has been raised and rejected," Edwards said. "It seems the county is simply trying to sabotage implementing the voter-approved and voter-enacted Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, and we are encouraging the court to reject the county's motion to stay."
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: azcentral.com
Author: Yvonne Wingett Sanchez
Last week, Gordon ruled Arizona's controversial medical-marijuana law does not conflict with federal drug laws and rejected arguments made by Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and Attorney General Tom Horne that state employees would be facilitating federal crimes if they issued licenses to medical-marijuana dispensaries.
Gordon also required the county to issue documents allowing White Mountain Health Center of Sun City to move forward with its effort to open a dispensary.
Montgomery and Horne have filed a motion to suspend Gordon's ruling until their appeal has run its course. In their request, the prosecutors asked the court to "preserve the status quo" pending an appeal, saying, "This case concerns the question of pre-emption by federal law of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, a significant issue of first impression in the Arizona courts. Given that there is no appellate court guidance in Arizona on this important issue, it would be prudent to preserve the status quo and not compel county defendants to take any action that may later prove to be unsupported by Arizona law."
Local attorneys Jeffrey Kaufman and Ezekiel Edwards, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's criminal-law reform project, represent White Mountain Health Center. The lawyers said that neither the stay request nor the appeal has merit and that the judge has already considered Montgomery's argument that county officials would be harmed if they issued zoning documents.
"The argument has been raised and rejected," Edwards said. "It seems the county is simply trying to sabotage implementing the voter-approved and voter-enacted Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, and we are encouraging the court to reject the county's motion to stay."
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: azcentral.com
Author: Yvonne Wingett Sanchez
