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Arizona Supreme Court Says Legal Marijuana Measure on Ballot
Source: Associated Press
Arizona Supreme Court Says Legal Marijuana Measure on Ballot
By BOB CHRISTIE, ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOENIX — Aug 31, 2016, 6:39 PM ET
A voter initiative legalizing recreational marijuana will be on the November ballot after the Arizona Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a final legal challenge to the measure.
A lower court judge had thrown out the challenge, saying the group called Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy didn't have a right to sue. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jo Lynn Gentry's ruling went on to reject all of the reasons opponents laid out for keeping the initiative off the ballot.
The opponents said initiative backers used illegal and unconstitutional "bait-and-switch tactics" and that the initiative violates Arizona's statutes in three ways. They include a misleading 100-word summary that leaves out important provisions, an "incoherent" text and title that obscures the extent of its impact on other laws and a failure to provide a legal funding mechanism.
The high court sidestepped the right to sue argument, with Chief Justice Scott Bales calling Gentry's reliance on a 2015 rewrite of a law "murky at best, and rather than wade into those waters, we turn to the merits."
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By BOB CHRISTIE, ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOENIX — Aug 31, 2016, 6:39 PM ET
A voter initiative legalizing recreational marijuana will be on the November ballot after the Arizona Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a final legal challenge to the measure.
A lower court judge had thrown out the challenge, saying the group called Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy didn't have a right to sue. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jo Lynn Gentry's ruling went on to reject all of the reasons opponents laid out for keeping the initiative off the ballot.
The opponents said initiative backers used illegal and unconstitutional "bait-and-switch tactics" and that the initiative violates Arizona's statutes in three ways. They include a misleading 100-word summary that leaves out important provisions, an "incoherent" text and title that obscures the extent of its impact on other laws and a failure to provide a legal funding mechanism.
The high court sidestepped the right to sue argument, with Chief Justice Scott Bales calling Gentry's reliance on a 2015 rewrite of a law "murky at best, and rather than wade into those waters, we turn to the merits."
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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/arizona-supreme-court-legal-marijuana-measure-ballot-41784178