There’ve been 3 lawsuits filed against the Department in the last few days. On June 10th, the Arizona Biomedical Research Commission filed suit against the state (including me) to stop the enactment of the portion of SB1615, which transfers the Commission to ADHS next month. We have someone from the Attorney General’s office working on this case. We expect there to be some activity on this case shortly because the Commission was due to be transferred on July 21 (although there is a retroactive clause in the law to July 1).
Last Tuesday I was served with another lawsuit arguing that we should implement the dispensary portion of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act. On Wednesday I was served on a similar case also relating to licensing dispensaries. Both of these cases ask the court to order us to follow the rules that we published on April 14 and begin accepting and processing dispensary applications. As you’ll recall, the Governor and I (with the advice of attorneys) decided not to continue implementing the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act dispensary portions of the Act until we receive clarification about whether it’s legal from the federal court. We’re still accepting and processing applications for Qualifying Patients and Designated Caregivers. So far we’ve approved more than 6,000 Patient cards.
I commend the State of Ariona for trying to move forward on this issue, but I am dubious whether you can count on the federal government to let you run your state as you see fit. I seem to remember seeing something in the paper recently about the Feds once again preparing to raid marijuana dispensaries.
Good luck to you! This and more should have been done years ago.