Judge Orders Arizona To Allow Marijuana Sales

In 2010 Arizona voters passed the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act but it wasn’t until this week that an Arizona judge finally ordered that the state license dispensaries and allow them to open starting by late Summer 2012.

The state will likely give out license agreements using a massive lottery system that will establish which growers can legally sell medical marijuana in the state.

It was U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton who paved the way for this decision earlier in the month when she threw out a lawsuit from Gov. Jan Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne who both attempted to block the Arizona medical marijuana dispensary program from moving forward.

In their case Brewer and Horne argued that the program would open state employees up to possible federal charges, an argument that was ultimately rejected by Bolton. In her rejection the judge pointed to 16 other states where similar programs had been enacted without a single state employee being arrested.

With the case officially thrown out of court the Arizona Department of Health Services has been ordered to immediately start the dispensary application process.

The rejection of a state level lawsuit comes at a time when many other parts of the United States are dealing with how to control medical marijuana sales as the Federal government continues to come down hard on sellers of medical pot. States want the federal government to stay out of their voters decisions while the feds continue to claim absolutely control over dispensaries by citing federal laws against the sales of marijuana.

Do you think medical marijuana sales should be decided upon at the state level?