In a case of politics making strange bedfellows, Arizona’s top pot prohibitionists and supporters of a grassroots, pro-cannabis effort agree on a legalization bill p[robably will appear on November’s ballot. In fact, the hardcore stoners who support the spoiler group Arizonans for Mindful Regulation would spit up their dab hits…
New Times is seeking a hard-working journalist to serve as the publication’s pot coordinator. The ideal applicant for this 20-hour-a-week job is a skilled writer and reporter who can find interesting stories about the burgeoning marijuana industry and culture in metro Phoenix and Arizona. Organizational skills are important, since part…
An alternative Arizona marijuana-legalization campaign made up of passionate cannabis users is aiming sky-high with its permissive proposal, but would voters really go for it? Arizonans for Mindful Regulation, a grassroots organization that has a small army of volunteers but little money, is making a final push to make the…
Zoned Properties, a medical-marijuana real-estate company, is developing what it bills as the state’s first “medical-marijuana business park.” The Scottsdale-based company announced on March 17 that it had signed a deal to lease 25,000 square feet of space in a building near 52nd Street and University Drive in Tempe, with an…
Supporters of Arizonans for Mindful Regulation have fought the good fight, but chances look slim that their cannabis-legalization measure will make November’s ballot. Even if the group has gathered 100,000 signatures, it has to collect another 100,000 in five months to ensure a ballot spot. The enthusiastic volunteers and their…
As cannabis advocates debate whether a proposed Arizona legalization law allows counties or towns to ban home growing, attempts to regulate home cultivation of medical marijuana have failed. The inability of counties to control home cultivation by qualified medical-marijuana patients gives insight into how the planned legalization measure may work…
A New Times reporter must have been bribed to do extensive reporting on a marijuana-legalization initiative expected to be on the Arizona ballot in November, a pot advocate claims falsely in a trash-talking YouTube video. It’s another example of the nasty fight between legalization supporters over two competing initiatives that may grow…
Does a marijuana-legalization initiative expected to be on the ballot this November allow cities and towns to ban adults from growing their own marijuana? Under the initiative, adults 21 and older could grow up to six plants, with a 12-plant-per-household maximum. Ryan Hurley, a lawyer for the Campaign to Regulate…
Arizonans for Mindful Regulation, the lesser-known marijuana-legalization campaign staffed mainly by volunteers, has reportedly gathered nearly 100,000 signatures. While it’s still a long shot, the effort’s leader, Jason Medar, is rousing his troops for a big push over the next five months to double that number. And he’s still vowing…
Feel left out of the Arizona medical-marijuana business? The Arizona Department of Health Services just announced that it will begin taking applications for new dispensaries this summer. This is the first time the state will be reviewing new applications for dispensary operating certificates since a lottery was held in 2012…
Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk was the only one of four panelists at a Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce marijuana event who wouldn’t say if she’s ever used cannabis. The morning panel discussion, “Breakfast with a side of … Marijuana?” was hosted by the chamber for a group of about 75 of its…
An Arizona lawmaker’s proposal to stop dispensaries from moving out of their state-designated areas highlights the need for updated medical-marijuana program rules. The Arizona Medical Marijuana Act that voters approved in 2010 requires the state to adopt rules that govern what was then a fledgling program. Besides a few court-ordered…
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce is offering an anti-cannabis workshop next month with prohibitionist county attorneys Bill Montgomery and Sheila Polk to help “sound the alarm” on a proposed legalization initiative. The Chamber will offer the March 2, invite-only workshop to corporate legal advisers, human-resources professionals, risk managers, and compliance…
Arizona lawmakers have backed off a controversial plan to prohibit pregnant women from consuming medical marijuana — instead they want dispensaries to warn them of alleged pot risks. The original proposal, House Bill 2061, was replaced this week with a strike-all amendment that forms the basis for a new bill…
Tom Horne, John Huppenthal and two other Republican former Arizona Superintendents of Public Instruction came out strongly against marijuana legalization in a Sunday column that fails the take full account of the issues. Horne, Huppenthal, Jaime Molera and Lisa Graham Keegan claim in the op-ed published in the Arizona Republic that…
Some members of the Arizona Legislature apparently think the people of the state can’t handle the responsibility of direct democracy, especially when it comes to legalizing marijuana. Four new measures, authored primarily by Republican state representatives Bob Thorpe and J.D. Mesnard, chisel away at the power of the people to…
If Arizona voters approve adult-use marijuana legalization this year, it won’t hurt tourism, using Colorado’s experience as an example. Tourism could even improve because of legalization, especially while cannabis freedom still is a novelty in most of the country. Yet the Arizona Lodging and Tourism Association, (AzLTA), an influential group…
New reports show the finances of an anti-marijuana group lag well behind a pro-legalization campaign. Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy (ARDP), led by Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, collected $90,095 in contributions from November 25, 2014, to December 31, 2015, according to campaign-finance reports released last week. After spending $19,000…
Facebook shut down the pages of state-authorized medical-marijuana dispensaries this week in Colorado and elsewhere, including today in Arizona. “I don’t fully understand it, and I can’t explain it,” says J.P. Holyoak, principal of Arizona Natural Selections in Phoenix. “We got a notice this morning saying our account had been…
A new pro-marijuana billboard that plays off the slogan promoting the Waste Management Phoenix Open was unveiled in Phoenix on Monday by the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. “If beer and golf make for the ‘greatest party on grass’…Why can’t adults enjoy a safer party on grass?” reads the…
Cannabis supporters were out in force at the state capitol today to celebrate a victory for Arizona’s Medical Marijuana Program. Supporters of medical pot were jubilant because state legislation,, HCR 2019, sponsored by Arizona Representative Jay Lawrence (R-Fountain Hills), would have prohibited naturopaths and homeopaths from writing medical-marijuana prescriptions. J.P…
The former CEO of a nonprofit drug-treatment firm that contracts with Maricopa County has made a fortune off of Arizona marijuana offenders, records show. Barabara Zugor, who retired in 2014, reported earnings from TASC of $360,000 to $476,000 a year since at least 2008, online records show. In Maricopa County,…
