Wow I'm guessing that Ernie Hancock, David Dorn and Marc Victor has told the WHOLE world who Basil Stick Pebble is. And of course demonized Basil Stick Pebble at the same time. And of course same for Safer Arizona and all the other people that have slandered me. I don't even know this guy. How did he know I was Mike?
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
This is the text that was attached to the email
Grass Extinction by Gary Michael Smith, Esq. Sixty-six million years ago, dinosaurs were going about their dinosaur business, blissfully unaware that heading toward Earth was a 6-mile- wide asteroid that was destined to cause the extinction of three quarters of all plant and animal species on Earth. They never saw it coming. Arizona medical marijuana may be facing a similar destiny, from a Yavapai County criminal appeal. Like the dinosaurs, no one appears to be aware either that this threat is looming or that this threat could be a dispensary extinction event. In 2017, an Arizona card-holding medical marijuana patient was convicted for possession of a cannabis extract. The judge reasoned that extracts (e.g., hash, oil, resin, tinctures, etc.) were not “medical marijuana”. That case is now at the Arizona Court of Appeals, and a ruling is expected soon. Should the Court decide cannabis extractions are “medical marijuana”, the industry as we know it will live on. However, should the Court rule the opposite, it will mean that extracts are not “medical marijuana” and every dispensary selling extracted products is in violation of Arizona law, as are the patients who consume those products. In wake of a possible court decision against extracts, Arizona’s Governor could decimate medical marijuana in Arizona, simply by having the Arizona Department of Health Services initiate revocation proceedings against every dispensary who sold extracts (likely all of them). Were this to occur, dispensaries, their owners, and their employees could all lose their legal protections under Arizona’s medical marijuana act. In other words, not only could the Governor wipe out every dispensary in one shot, but he also could trigger mass prosecutions for everyone involved, as well as forfeiture proceedings on every dispensary location, dispensary money, etc. Granted, this prediction hinges upon how the Arizona Court of Appeals rules, whether the matter proceeds next to the Arizona Supreme Court, and how or whether the Arizona Governor would even react. But, this theorized extinction event is entirely possible. This may not be all bad news. Arizona’s medical marijuana act would remain Arizona law, and the State would be obligated to replace its lost dispensaries. But, Arizona’s patients may suffer a years-long drought of access, until new dispensaries appear. Thus, the only thing standing in the way of the Governor pulling the trigger, is fear of Arizona’s infamous 25-mile rule, which holds that no patient-card- holding Arizonan can cultivate at home, if they live within 25 miles of an open dispensary. If the Governor shuts down the dispensaries, he could be giving Arizona home cultivation for everyone, just like Governor Brewer did in 2011. For now, Cannabisaurus Rex lives. The asteroid may miss. The Court of Appeals may rule that extracts are “medical marijuana”. Or, it may not. The Governor might get into the fray. Or, he may not. Either way, it seems a waste of 66 million years of evolution, as we find ourselves spending thought in a deadly-serious debate over whether brownies are a felony. Gary Michael Smith is an attorney and arbitrator and partner in the Phoenix Arizona-based Smith Saks PLC. He is also a founding director and current president of the Arizona Cannabis Bar Association. He can be reached at smith@smithsaks.com
|