Judge Gama Instructs AZ to Implement the Lawful Provisions of the Medical Marijuana Law

On January 19, 2012, Judge Richard Gama ordered, in a lawsuit brought on behalf of medical marijuana supporters, the State of Arizona to implement the lawful provisions of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act. In making his ruling, Judge Gama ruled some provisions of the final rules made by the Department of Health Services null and void. Those provisions were:

1) That one of the requirements for being a principal officer in a medical marijuana dispensary is three years residency in Arizona. To prove this, the applicant was required to prove three years of Arizona personal income tax having been paid.

In our opinion, Judge Gama eliminated a plainly unconstitutional requirement that never should have been put in the rules. In comment letters during the rule-making process, we repeatedly emphasized that this requirement violated the Constitution of the United States. The Department of Health Services decided to ignore the Constitution, but Judge Gama correctly voided the provision.

2) Various provisions that an applicant had not filed bankruptcy in the past, was current on child support, was not delinquent in paying taxes, did not have unpaid judgments to the government, and was not in default on any government issued student loan.

Again, for many reasons, these provisions were plainly unconstitutional. Judge Gama correctly voided them.

At Marc J. Victor, P.C., we applaud the ruling of Judge Gama and the efforts of all medical marijuana advocates. We hope Governor Brewer, in the face of losses in Federal Court and now Superior Court, stops hindering the implementation of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act as voted into law by the citizens of Arizona.