In another victory for pro-legalization forces, a new Obama Administration policy announced today takes a mostly hand-off approach to state marijuana laws. The news by the U.S. Justice Department comes as a long-awaited response to last year’s elections in Colorado and Washington that legalized the use and sale of marijuana…
A 5-year-old Mesa boy will be Arizona’s 40th medical-marijuana patient under the age of 18.Zander Welton has cortical dysplasia, a brain abnormality, which causes him to have seizures, which several medications, two brain surgeries, and an implant haven’t solved, according to his parents…
The Marijuana Policy Project has named Arizona Republican Representative John Kavanagh the third-worst state legislator in the country.Obviously, the Marijuana Policy Project is taking into account only Kavanagh’s fanatical anti-marijuana crusade, which is just one freaky thing about the guy’s record…
Dozens of medical-pot dispensaries dot the state from nearly every corner since the first one, Arizona Organix of Glendale, opened in November. A recent newsletter to patients released by the state Department of Health and obtained by New Times shows the addresses of 48 of these pioneering businesses, which teeter…
Another favorable court ruling for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act means that would-be dispensaries have much more time to set up operations. Maricopa Superior Court Judge Randall Warner’s July 29 ruling, released Wednesday, stops the state from denying dispensary approvals because of failure to meet a set deadline…
Phoenix police have busted marijuana activist Billy Hayes for the second time in two years in connection with running an unauthorized medical-marijuana dispensary.Hayes seems to have more lives than a cat, so we’re not betting yet on whether Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery will be able to secure a successful…
Despite New Times’ discovery last month that Phoenix police are routinely using Craigslist to bust people offering to sell “medical marijuana” for the price of a “donation,” the busts continue.Even though some people post lengthy disclaimers in their ads, claiming that there’s no pot sale going on, it’s just a…
Police in Glendale sniffed out a pot grower who had a kindergarten-level excuse for his growing operation — the dog ate his medical-marijuana card.According to court documents obtained by New Times, Charles Stephens III was growing outside of the limitations of the medical-marijuana program anyway…
An unspectacular bust of a low-level pot dealer in North Phoenix got pretty spectacular after police found a powerful bomb at the house.Phoenix police were serving a warrant at the home of the alleged weed salesman, 21-year-old Todd Robertson, when officers found the device that bomb technicians said “would ‘level’…
Despite the fact that Arizona has a medical-marijuana law, that law does not turn a neighborhood weed dealer into a bona fide medical-marijuana salesman.This apparently comes as news to several Phoenix residents, as a New Times review of superior court filings shows that police have busted several dealers over the…
Black people in Arizona are 2.4 times more likely to get arrested for marijuana possession than White people, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.That’s not even the worst part. This ACLU report shows that even though Black people are more than twice as likely than White people to get…
Could it be that Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu is even more of a liberal Republican than we thought? We know he supports same-sex marriage and gays in the military. But what about his views on medical marijuana? Well, consider that he handpicked for his staff a fitness trainer/bodybuilder/bookkeeper with…
Usually, Customs and Border Protection officers are catching ever-creative drug smugglers as they attempt to get their product through a port at the border.This time, though, the Office of Air and Marine — part of Customs and Border Protection — caught the stash in the air, as a pilot took…
Ninety percent of medical-marijuana cardholders didn’t qualify for nothing but “chronic and severe pain,” as Channel 5’s Morgan Loew reported last week, the director of the Arizona Department of Health Services told us this morning. New Times writer Matthew Hendley wrote several articles recently about Loew’s May 15 report on…
Medical-marijuana cardholders can be prosecuted when they possess too much weed or do something else that falls outside the boundaries of state law, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled last week. It sounds like a no-brainer — break the law, you could be prosecuted. But the voter-approved 2010 Medical Marijuana…
Rushing to the defense of CBS 5’s severely flawed “investigation” of the state’s medical-marijuana program is Pinal County Attorney Lando Voyles, who wants to add to the disinformation campaign.In fact, Voyles sent out a press release including a public thank-you note to CBS 5, thanking them for the “investigation” and…
Pot by itself was not much of a factor in injury and fatal crashes probed last year by the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Fewer than 1 percent of suspected impaired drivers involved in such crashes tested positive for nothing but marijuana. New Times’ findings, based on a records request…
CBS 5 — the local news station that claims to be “telling it like it is” — prominently displayed a made-up statistic during its recent anti-medical marijuana propaganda piece “investigation.”In the report, in which “investigative reporter” Morgan Loew told the state health department it was true that he had severe…
Smoking marijuana has “remarkable” effect on diabetic problems and may lower risk of getting the disease, a study published on Wednesday states. This news comes a few days after a presentation at the annual conference of the American Urological Association that links heavy pot use to a much lower risk…
It shouldn’t be illegal to possess a little marijuana, according to more than half of Arizona’s residents.This Behavior Research Center poll, released today, shows that 56 percent of the Arizonans surveyed are in favor of “legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use,” with majority support from…
For the millions of people who now use marijuana legally under their states’ laws, driving in Arizona is technically a crime. Motorists with pot metabolites in their bloodstreams who want to avoid a marijuana DUI — which comes with nasty fines and a one-year suspension of driving privileges, instead of…
A Phoenix cop smelled marijuana coming from a car last week while he was on routine patrol, and that officer ended up finding a bag of weed and a pipe — after the passenger in the car pulled the items out of her vagina.The officer didn’t see anything in the…
