Powerful Attorneys Back the Criminalization of Marijuana Extracts in Arizona

A council that represents 900 of the state’s prosecutors, including all 15 county attorneys, top city attorneys and Arizona’s Attorney General Mark Brnovich, have asked the Arizona Supreme Court to uphold the ruling stating that marijuana extracts are illegal under Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (AMMA).

According the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys’ Advisory Council (APAAC), allowing extracts “mangles the science of marijuana” and “would have a deleterious effect on public policy in Arizona,” KJZZ 91.5 Radio reports. However, these claims appear to be unsubstantiated.

Part of the APAAC’s brief says, “The potential for addiction and abuse is greater with separated marijuana resin than marijuana plant material because of its higher concentration of THC.”

Jared Keenan, an attorney for the ACLU, said, “A group of prosecutors is attempting to educate the court on the science of marijuana.”

Will Humble, former director of the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS), continues to argue that the AMMA includes marijuana extracts. The Arizona Dispensaries Association and Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice agree with Humble and continue to fight to allow marijuana extracts in Arizona.

If the court upholds the lower court’s previous ruling it would be detrimental to many of the state’s medical marijuana patients that need concentrated forms of marijuana to treat their medical conditions. For instance, children in the state’s medical marijuana program would no longer have access to edibles or tinctures and would have to resort to smoking marijuana.