Image: www.weedsthatplease.com

New medical-marijuana patients in Arizona can still obtain the privilege to grow 12 of these, at least for a little while longer.

No need to put away the fluorescent bulbs just yet:

It turns out that Arizona first state-authorized medical-marijuana dispensary won't trigger a ban on patient and caregiver grow-rooms, at least in the short term.

The state Department of Health Services has granted a "short delay in the effective date for their Operating License in order to ensure that things run smoothly when they officially begin operations," writes DHS Director Will Humble this afternoon in his blog.

The length of the delay wasn't specified, but for now, new and renewing patients filing applications with the state to legally possess marijuana will still be allowed growing privileges.

The approval of Arizona Organix by state Department of Health Services inspectors on Thursday meant the dispensary could immediately begin selling marijuana to qualified patients under the state's 2010 medical-pot law. As Humble reminded the public last week, the voter-approved law prohibits patients and caregivers from growing weed if a dispensary is within 25 miles.

"Beginning tomorrow we'll be declining new 'requests to cultivate' among new cardholders in most of the metro area..." Humble wrote on November 15. Existing patients with grow rights who were within the exclusion zone would be able to keep the lights on until their annual registration cards came up for renewal.

The "25-mile rule" in the law was meant to ease the concerns of some members of the public who fear the proliferation of small, indoor pot farms.

More »

See also: Medical Marijuana Compassion Club Raid by Phoenix Police Leaps Ahead of Court Case on Legality of Clubs

Image: Al Sobol

The "Reverend" Al Sobol, who's better known as a medical-marijuana marketer, is seen here at his small church in Fountain Hills.

Nature's Healing Center, a would-be medical-marijuana dispensary, is suing the Town of Fountain Hills over its competitors' distance from a church run by the "Reverend" Al Sobol.

That's the same Al Sobol who's been a prominent and vocal voice of the medical-marijuana community since the 2010 passage of Proposition 203.

Sobol oversees a school that helps people obtain marijuana-dispensary licenses. And, according to a Fountain Hills planner's March 17 letter to Sobol, his "representative" is Dr. Bruce Bedrick, the former CEO of Nature's Healing Center.

Both Sobol and Bedrick, also the founder and CEO of medical-marijuana consulting firm Kind Clinics, deny they have -- or ever had -- a business connection.

More »

Photo Illustration: Phoenix New Times

The state opened the door for medical-marijuana dispensary applications yesterday, receiving 15 by the end of the day.

Hopeful pot-shop owners will have until 5 p.m. on May 25 to submit the applications. Besides paying a $5,000 application fee, weed-trepeneurs must include a business plan and details on how they'll control their inventory. See the state Department of Health Services checklist for applications by clicking here.

Under Arizona law, the stores will be able to grow and sell marijuana legally for a growing population of qualified patients, now topping 28,000. After the close of the application process, DHS will evaluate the submissions and make their approvals or denials. Some stores are expected to open by late summer, offering patients a wide range of cannabis strains, pot-infused foods, tinctures and other concentrates.

More »

Image: Jamie Peachey

A $500,000 loan to a Colorado company intended for a medical-marijuana facility doesn't have to be paid back because pot is illegal under federal law, a county judge has ruled.

The bombshell ruling, (tip of the hat to lawyer Richard Keyt's medical-marijuana blog), has major implications for the budding dispensary industry in Arizona. Applications for dispensaries are set to be accepted this month, and state-authorized, medical-pot retail and grow centers are expected to open by late summer.

Although this isn't a precedent-setting ruling that other judges must consider, the basic concept of the April 17 ruling is a wake-up call for lenders and investors.

As Keyt wrote in his blog, if this goes to an appeals court and is upheld, "any contract that has a purpose related to Arizona medical marijuana may be unenforceable and not worth the paper it is written on!"

In reading the ruling by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael McVey, it's easy to see how Keyt came to that conclusion.

More »

theharbinger.org

Maricopa County Attorney Bill the Buzzkill Montgomery announced today that he's trying to help try to prevent kids from getting stoned out of their minds on April 20 -- "420," as it's known to those with red eyes and the munchies.

The date has been described as a "counterculture holiday," in which fans of marijuana toke up in celebration, or protest, or something like that, man.

Montgomery, staying consistent with his morality policing (see: porn actors "may be guilty of...prostitution."), announced that he'll be joining others on April 19 to "help raise awareness about the dangers of experimenting with illegal drugs" in advance of the 20th, referred to as "National Get High Day."

That event will include free drug tests to parents thanks to First Check and notMYkid, a combo you may remember from Steve Moak's 2010 congressional bid.

More »

Image: Wikimedia Commons

​If you're missing a marijuana-growing business, maybe it's the one Glendale police found last month.

Dozens of pot plants were discovered sprouting in a commercial business space near 57th Avenue and San Miguel Street on July 28, but the owners still haven't been found, says Glendale police spokesman Sergeant Brent Coombs.

"At some point in the near future, we're going to get the bottom of it," Coombs says.

The sergeant tells New Times that a tip came into the department's narcotics hotline about a local business used for weed cultivation. Cops followed up by running a drug-sniffing dog through the commercial area, which is home to auto-repair garages and other shops. The dog smelled something funny near one of the businesses, which was enough to get a judge to sign a search warrant. But when police raised the place, the business was unoccupied -- except for about 70 pot plants, Coombs says.

Theoretically, an operation like this could now be legal under state law, even without the dispensary industry that's been halted by Governor Jan Brewer.

More »

Al Sobol, manager of the 2811 Club, LLC, says he's confident that cannabis clubs will be deemed legal by an Arizona court.

Al Sobol, a prominent medical marijuana marketer, says he's "happy" that state Attorney General Tom Horne seeks to have a court review the legality of cannabis clubs.

Sobol is the manager of the 2811 Club, LLC, one of the businesses named in the legal actions filed in the Maricopa County Superior Court today by state Attorney General Tom Horne.

The AG wants a judge to shut down the clubs, saying they're not legal under the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act.

But Sobol says he's confident the court will find that the clubs aren't breaking the law. He filed a lawsuit three weeks ago in the same court that also asks for a judicial opinion on the legality of clubs like his. Sobol says that the state hasn't yet responded to his suit.

More »

Tempe Police

Griffith Smith

​The House of Glass Smoke Shop in Tempe was raided by police Tuesday after the store's owners accepted stolen cigarettes and sold unlicensed marijuana and morphine pills to undercover cops.

In February, Tempe Police were tipped off to shady behavior happening in the smoke shop's parking lot in the 1600 block of East Apache Boulevard. During the investigation, store owners Griffith Smith, 49, and 27-year-old Joshua Gault, of Peoria, knowingly bought stolen cigarettes from undercover officers.

Smith and Gault resold the cigarettes at the smoke shop for profit.

The two owners -- with the help of 20-year-old Arizona State University student Tyler Benenstuhl -- also sold weed and morphine pills to the undercover detectives, according to Tempe Police spokesman Sergent Steven Carbajal.

More »

Governor Jan Brewer

Governor Jan Brewer is using a supposed threat to state workers as a "pretext" for thwarting the will of voters, say advocates of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act in a court action filed today.

The American Civil Liberties Union makes that case in a court motion filed today in the lawsuit launched by Brewer in May against the new law.

In addition to some of the more technical legal arguments, including the idea that the state's Medical Marijuana Act isn't preempted by federal law, the filing notes that Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke contradicted directly Brewer's stated reasons for launching her lawsuit.

The defendants against Brewer's action include: The Arizona Medical Marijuana Association, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Valley firm Gammage & Burnham; the Arizona Association of Dispensary Professionals, represented by Flagstaff attorney Thomas Dean; and several businesses and individuals represented by Scottsdale's Rose Law Group.

More »

Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke says the feds will target "large" marijuana-growing operations -- even if they're approved by state law. "Large," however, isn't being defined.

 

Federal agents may bust anyone participating in a "large" pot-growing operation, despite Arizona's voter-approved medical marijuana law, says Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke in a letter to the state.

In a recent letter to Will Humble, the director of the state Department of Health Services, Burke reiterates that the feds will look the other way when truly sick people use marijuana -- but that the patients' suppliers might be inviting trouble.

Burke compounds the schizophrenic stance by stating that federal law "may be vigorously enforced against those individuals and entities who operate large marijuana production facilities. Individuals and organizations -- including property owners, landlords and financiers" face legal problems including seizure of their property and other assets.

Problem is, Burke gives no definition of "large."

Robbie Sherwood, Burke's spokesman, didn't know what "large" meant, either, adding that Burke could not be reached because he was on a plane to Washington D.C.   

More »