Indopedia All Things Marijuana
The Arizona Supreme Court has blocked a county attorney’s attempt to interfere with the state’s medical marijuana laws, hopefully bringing a five-year legal battle between Maricopa county and a local dispensary to an end. In 2012, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery advised his county’s Board of Supervisors to deny local canna-business White Mountain Health approval to open a dispensary in their county. The attorney argued that the county had the right to ignore state law because marijuana is still prohibited by the federal government.
White Mountain Health sued Maricopa county over the right to open their dispensary. Montgomery said at the time that he hoped that the county would win the lawsuit, creating a precedent that would block any medical marijuana establishments from opening in the state. The plan backfired, however, when Superior Court Judge Michael Gordon ruled for White Mountain in December of 2012, calling Montgomery’s plan a “transparent attempt” to interfere with state law.
White Mountain was allowed to open their dispensary, and more than 100 other dispensaries have opened across the state. Montgomery was undeterred by his loss in court, and…
