MPP Lawsuit - Friday, Aug 12, 1:30 pm
This is the lawsuit where Sheila Polk, Bill Montgomery and a whole gang of prohibitions is trying to get the phoney baloney Marijuana Policy Project initiative to legalize marijuana thrown off of the ballot.
The hearing is this Friday at 1:30 pm in the Maricopa County County Courthouse in Downtown Phoenix.
That address is
101 W JeffersonIt's in the East Court room building room number E-424
The case number is:
CV 2016-009546Judge Gentry is the judge.
For more information call (602)506-1497
No wonder I hate government. It took me 20 minutes of calling the idiots at the Maricopa County Court house to get the date, time and court room of the hearing.
We went to the initial hearing and they asked for 2 or 3 hours to give their arguments to the judge so I suspect the hearing will last until 3:30 or maybe 4:30 if they use 3 hours.
Despite the fact that the lawsuit is filed by a gang of drug war nut jobs who want the drug war to continue at full speed ahead most of the marijuana community hates the MPP initiative and hopes it will be thrown off the ballot.
And if that doesn't happen we hope the voters will shoot it down because it doesn't really legalize marijuana. Just like the voters shot down that phone baloney initiative in Ohio to legalize marijuana there.
I know everybody on the Safer Arizona board who is involved with writing our 2018 initiative to completely and totally legalize marijuana in Arizona hopes the MPP lawsuit gets shot down.
Finding cases by date
Here is a link to find cases in the Maricopa County Courts by Judge name.In this case go to the link which is:
https://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/docket/calendar/Then select the date. Which in this case is
Aug 12Then hit the Submit button
When the web page comes back scroll down and look for the judge, which in this case is:
Gentry, Jo Lynn
Here is a list of canned reasons I have for shooting down the lawsuit.
I'm 100% for legalizing not only marijuana, but all drugs.
But I'm against the phoney baloney MPP or Marijuana Policy Project initiative to legalize recreational marijuana in Arizona because it's 99% about creating a monopoly on growing and selling recreational marijuana for the existing 85 medical marijuana dispensaries, by giving them a monopoly on recreational marijuana.
Yea, those are the same 85 or so medical marijuana dispensaries that financed the initiative with about $2.5 million dollars of their money.
The MPP initiative in Arizona is called the "Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol" or "CRMLA".
The law still allows people to be charged with felonies for numerous victimless marijuana crimes.
The law creates a new "marijuana police force" to arrest people for victimless marijuana crimes. And the folks at MPP want us to think they are "legalizing marijuana". What rubbish!!!
It is still a felony under the law to possess more then 2.5 ounces of marijuana. It will be a misdemeanor to possess over 1 ounce of marijuana but less then 2.5 ounces.
It is still a felony under the law to possess more then 5 grams or about a fifth of an ounce of concentrated marijuana.
It is still a felony under the law to grow 7 marijuana plants for a single person.
It is still a felony under the law to grow 13 marijuana plants for a household.
Under the law city and governments are allowed to ban growing of marijuana. And if city and county governments treat recreational marijuana with the same "Reefer Madness" attitude they have treated medical marijuana you can expect it to be illegal in most cities and counties in Arizona to grow recreational marijuana.
Marijuana lawyer Tom Dean says he thinks it should be a misdemeanor to illegally grow marijuana plants if they are banned. But I think he has also said that prosecutors may try to charge people will felonies for violating the ban.
It's also a felony to sell that unused marijuana you paid $300 an ounce for to a friend.
The law slaps an outrageous 15% tax on marijuana sales. I that is in addition to the current 8% or more sales tax you will pay on marijuana purchases. Remember the Boston Tea Party was over a lousy 1.75% tax on tea. [I have also seen a 3% figure for the Boston Tea Party tax]. Marijuana users will be paying around a 23% tax on marijuana when you combine the 15% marijuana tax, and the current sales tax of 8%.
If recreational marijuana sells for around $300 an ounce like medical marijuana does, you will be paying a tax of $70 for each ounce of marijuana you buy, bringing the total cost of an ounce of marijuana to around $370 an ounce.
Remember illegal black market marijuana sells for around around $50 to $100 an ounce. If legal recreational marijuana sells for $370 an ounce after taxes, the law will not end the crime associated with black market marijuana. In fact the law will allow illegal black market marijuana sellers to raise their prices, because legal marijuana will cost around 4 to 8 times what illegal black market marijuana costs.
The law creates a new government bureaucracy to regulate marijuana, which is the "Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control". We don't need more government bureaucrats in Arizona.
The law allows the owners of medical marijuana dispensaries to modify Prop 203 or Arizona's Medical Marijuana Act. Half of the members of the board will be owners of medical marijuana dispensaries, and half will be appointed government bureaucrats. Many people suspect that Prop 203 will be gutted to increase profits for the dispensaries. Like it is now being done in Washington and other states that have passed similar MPP laws.
The number of recreational marijuana stores in Arizona will be limited to a maximum of 160. That's one store for almost every 40,000 Arizona residents. That number is based on 10 percent of the series 9 liquor licenses. BUT the department doesn't have to issue all 160 licenses. They only have to give the existing 85 or so stores with medical marijuana licenses a recreational marijuana license. And I expect that is what will happen. If that is true there will be one marijuana store for every 80,000 Arizona residents.
The law allows "Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control" to control "head shops" or "smoke shop", which means all the current "head shops" or "smoke shops" probably will be made illegal, and only the 85 or so stores which will be given a monopoly on selling recreational marijuana will be allowed to sell marijuana smoking accessories. If you own a "head shop" or "smoke shop" this law could drive you out of business.
The law does NOT give automatic pardons to anyone convicted in the past of marijuana crimes, which would be legal under the law.
If you want to legalize marijuana the right way, sign the Safer Arizona 2018 petition to legalize marijuana when it comes out on November 9, 2016 and vote for it in the 2018 election.
And please vote no on the phoney baloney MPP initiative and tell these corporate whores they are not welcome in Arizona and send them back to Washington D.C. where they belong with all the other government crooks.