Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
In an opinion that impacts several criminal cases around the state, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday that authorized medical-marijuana patients cannot sell cannabis to other patients.
The 3-0 ruling by the state's Division Two appeals court overturns a decision made last July by Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard Fields, who ruled that such sales were legal under the voter-approved, 2010 Medical Marijuana Act.
The ruling resulted in the dismissal of a marijuana-for-sale case involving Jeremy Allen Matlock of Tucson and caught the attention of prosecutors around the state. Marijuana activists and criminal defendants were buoyed by Fields' ruling, hoping their own cases would be tossed out.
The 2010 law calls for state-regulated dispensaries that are now in place across Arizona. But Matlock, with his public defender, attorney David Euchner, argued that the law grants patients the right to sell to other patients in two separate sections.
In one part, the law states that state-authorized patients can't be prosecuted for providing marijuana to other patients as long as "nothing of value is transferred in return." Euchner and Matlock asserted - and Judge Fields agreed - that the clause refers only to when a patient might give marijuana to a dispensary. Another part of the law states that a medical-marijuana card will be revoked if the patient sells marijuana to someone who isn't authorized to possess marijuana, which seems to imply that a patient can sell to someone who is authorized.
Before the first dispensaries opened in Arizona, operators of compassion clubs and would-be independent cannabis dealers set up shop themselves on basically the same premise used in the Matlock case. A lawsuit on the matter filed by former state AG Tom Horne fizzled without resolving the legal question of patient-to-patient sales. Some continue to operate under the theory that such sales are legal, despite successful prosecutions - so far only through plea deals - of unauthorized cannabis dealers. The new opinion makes such operations even dicier.
The appellate judges parsed the language of the law word-by-word, dissecting the "nothing of value" sentence like English professors:
Notably, the dependent clause [in the law] beginning with the word “if” is essential to the meaning of the rest of the sentence. If the first part of the dependent clause - '"if nothing of value is transferred in return" - applied only to dispensaries, as Matlock contends, and we removed that portion of the sentence, the remainder would not make sense...
Patients who sell to other patients, therefore, aren't immune from prosecution, the three-judge panel goes on to explain.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Patients Can't Sell Medical Pot, Appeals Court Rules | Phoenix New Times
Author: Ray Stern
Contact: Phoenix News and Events | Phoenix New Times
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: Phoenix News and Events | Phoenix New Times
The 3-0 ruling by the state's Division Two appeals court overturns a decision made last July by Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard Fields, who ruled that such sales were legal under the voter-approved, 2010 Medical Marijuana Act.
The ruling resulted in the dismissal of a marijuana-for-sale case involving Jeremy Allen Matlock of Tucson and caught the attention of prosecutors around the state. Marijuana activists and criminal defendants were buoyed by Fields' ruling, hoping their own cases would be tossed out.
The 2010 law calls for state-regulated dispensaries that are now in place across Arizona. But Matlock, with his public defender, attorney David Euchner, argued that the law grants patients the right to sell to other patients in two separate sections.
In one part, the law states that state-authorized patients can't be prosecuted for providing marijuana to other patients as long as "nothing of value is transferred in return." Euchner and Matlock asserted - and Judge Fields agreed - that the clause refers only to when a patient might give marijuana to a dispensary. Another part of the law states that a medical-marijuana card will be revoked if the patient sells marijuana to someone who isn't authorized to possess marijuana, which seems to imply that a patient can sell to someone who is authorized.
Before the first dispensaries opened in Arizona, operators of compassion clubs and would-be independent cannabis dealers set up shop themselves on basically the same premise used in the Matlock case. A lawsuit on the matter filed by former state AG Tom Horne fizzled without resolving the legal question of patient-to-patient sales. Some continue to operate under the theory that such sales are legal, despite successful prosecutions - so far only through plea deals - of unauthorized cannabis dealers. The new opinion makes such operations even dicier.
The appellate judges parsed the language of the law word-by-word, dissecting the "nothing of value" sentence like English professors:
Notably, the dependent clause [in the law] beginning with the word “if” is essential to the meaning of the rest of the sentence. If the first part of the dependent clause - '"if nothing of value is transferred in return" - applied only to dispensaries, as Matlock contends, and we removed that portion of the sentence, the remainder would not make sense...
Patients who sell to other patients, therefore, aren't immune from prosecution, the three-judge panel goes on to explain.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Patients Can't Sell Medical Pot, Appeals Court Rules | Phoenix New Times
Author: Ray Stern
Contact: Phoenix News and Events | Phoenix New Times
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: Phoenix News and Events | Phoenix New Times
