A law-enforcement task force in Yavapai County cut a $50,000 check from RICO funds to a substance-abuse group dedicated to fighting marijuana legalization in Arizona, New Times has learned. The deal between the Yavapai County-based Partners Against Narcotics Trafficking (PANT) task force and MATFORCE was made soon after the Marijuana…
If two unnamed Tempe police officers are to be believed, John Wheelihan pointed a scoped rifle at them just before they shot him three times at his home in 2013. No matter that Wheelihan’s weapon turned out to be a pellet gun: It might have looked deadly enough in the…
A Yavapai County-based anti-substance-abuse coalition fighting marijuana legalization has decided to be more honest about who supports it. Following our blog post last week that mentioned MATFORCE’s screwed-up billboard and outdated “About Us” page, the group removed the names of most of its alleged supporters. MATFORCE began years ago with…
A Yavapai County anti-legalization group that claims marijuana use lowers IQ seems to be in need of an IQ boost itself. MATFORCE, a coalition of cops and business leaders led by County Attorney Sheila Polk, put up at least one billboard in the Phoenix area recently that contains an incorrect…
A ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana use in Arizona is going to be filed this afternoon. The campaign, backed by the Marijuana Policy Project, needs to gather about 150,000 signatures by June 2016 to get the issue on the ballot in November 2016…
The chances of a successful marijuana-legalization initiative in Arizona for 2016 appear to have diminished due to fighting among two competing political groups. As we reported on March 27, the Marijuana Policy Project of Arizona was surprised by the sudden launch of a competing 2016 campaign by their chairperson, Dr…
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in two cases today that prosecutors can’t ban people on parole or probation from using medical marijuana. Because medical marijuana is a medicine when used under the state’s voter-authorized program, the court stated in its opinions, patients should be allowed to use it — even…
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery advocated a reason based on religion for keeping cannabis illegal and called a veteran an “enemy” at a recent debate. You can watch the entire 90-minute, March 23 debate between Montgomery and lawyer Marc Victor and judge for yourself who won. Montgomery lost the debate…
A new marijuana-legalization initiative campaign was filed with the state today, but its organizers aren’t ready to say much about it. The chairman of the campaign, Dr. Gina Berman, is the same chairman of the Marijuana Policy Project of Arizona initiative campaign launched in September. The MPP group, which was…
Prohibitionists have been creating a mythology around the dreaded “marihuana” since the Harry Anslinger days. But we’ve found that even knowledgeable cannabis connoisseurs may harbor some magical thinking about weed. Here’s our take on the Top 10 myths:…
Last year, the press and marijuana-legalization opponents gave a lot of attention to a study suggesting that daily marijuana causes abnormalities in the brain. New research, reportedly using better techniques, indicates that claim and other reports of cannabis-caused changes to brain structure simply aren’t true. The authors of the new…
A viral video of a “stoned guy” reacting to a giant bug in his front yard is helping the Arizona cannabis-legalization movement. Dave Wisniewski, chairman of Safer Arizona, made the video about two weeks ago, after spotting a large grasshopper while taking out his recycling garbage. It’s attracted more than…
Dozens of cannabis supporters rallied at the Arizona State Capitol today in an effort to bring their message to lawmakers. Pro-marijuana activists with Safer Arizona and other groups held signs and chatted with reporters and legislators about their goal to end pot prohibition in the state…
A new state report shows that slightly more than 10 tons of marijuana were smoked, eaten or otherwise consumed in 2014 by Arizona’s 60,000 medical-marijuana patients. New Times obtained the information from the Arizona Department of Health Services, which produced a similar report in 2013 of the transactions at authorized…
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and other Arizona foes of medical marijuana were hit by another symbolic setback with last weekend’s opening of a Sun City dispensary. The White Mountain Health Center, a nonprofit company operated by marijuana activist and bong-tool inventor Daryl “Butch” Williams, is the now the 84th…
The marijuana legalization movement has several foes in Arizona, and Merilee Fowler, executive director of MATFORCE in Yavapai County, is one of the biggies. Both sides are getting an early start on the campaign to pass or defeat a likely ballot initiative planned to be put before Arizona voters in…
Arizona could generate an additional $48 million in revenue each year by legalizing and taxing marijuana, an analysis by the State Legislature shows. The Joint Legislative Budget Committee produced a report in September on the estimated impact of legal marijuana, but didn’t release the data publicly. New Times obtained a…
The head of the Arizona Naturopathic Physicians Medical Board isn’t concerned with a new report that shows naturopaths make most of the states medical-marijuana recommendations. “Yes, our doctors are the top prescribers,” says Gail Anthony, the board’s executive director. “I don’t think it would be a big deal.” Anthony does,…
Billy Benjamin Hayes Jr., 39, is one of the state’s most vocal marijuana activists. Few people welcomed the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act when voters passed it in 2010 more than Hayes. The lanky father of three is a marijuana enthusiast, a grower for nearly his whole life who imbibes regularly,…
A passenger on a flight out of Phoenix’s Sky Harbor airport tried to check luggage containing 92 pounds of marijuana, according to the TSA. A TSA spokesman says the Phoenix Police Department was contacted once agents made the discovery. According to court documents obtained by New Times, 39-year-old Lauretta Blanton…
Sue Sisley has been fired again. An apparent victim of hardball politics, the Valley doctor and would-be cannabis researcher was told by the University of Arizona in June to vacate her office at the school’s downtown Phoenix campus. Now Sisley’s been booted off the Maricopa County Medical Society’s board of…
Arizona’s “top” prosecutors on Thursday urged the public to oppose cannabis legalization, warning that diverted medical marijuana is an increasing source of the drug for teens. Problem is, these modern-day prohibitionists are cherry-picking their data from the newly released 2014 Arizona Youth Survey by the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission. And…
