Jan 09, 2012
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has made a name for herself nationally by asserting her state’s sovereignty, famously “bucking the feds” on both immigration and health care reform and citing the 10th Amendment as justification for her actions.
However, on the subject of Arizona’s medical marijuana law, which was passed by voters in 2010, Gov. Brewer has taken a strikingly different approach.
Last year, Gov. Brewer sued in federal court, asking U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton to determine whether the state law is valid and refusing, in the interim, to implement a key part of the law that required the state to register 125 dispensaries. The ACLU and U.S. government argued for the dismissal.
Last Wednesday, Judge Bolton threw out Gov. Brewer’s lawsuit challenging Arizona’s medical marijuana law. Gov. Brewer filed suit while refusing to implement a key part of the law that required the state to register 125 dispensaries.
Judge Bolton’s decision was based largely on the fact that the state had no plans to violate the federal Controlled Substances Act and that there was no imminent threat of state workers being federally prosecuted. Gov. Brewer may refile her lawsuit within 30 days if she amends her claims, and she has indicated that she intends to do so.
Brewer’s lawsuit has been an unbelievable affront to the voters, a waste of taxpayer money, and a direct impediment to sick people’s access to medicine they desperately need, all coming from a governor obsessed with “standing up to the feds” on some issues, but not on behalf of seriously ill citizens in Arizona.
Arizona residents are encouraged to call Governor Brewer and tell her to stop challenging Arizona’s voter-enacted medical marijuana law!
The message for Gov. Brewer is simple: follow state law!