Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, tells The Arizona Republic voters deserve the right to reconsider whether Arizona’s medical marijuana law should be repealed.
Kavanagh on Thursday filed a bill that would refer the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act back to the ballot in November 2014. House Concurrent Resolution 2003 would require the Legislature’s approval, but not Gov. Jan Brewer’s signature.
He said new findings some teens were obtaining the drug from medical marijuana cardholders “was the last straw.” The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission study found nearly one out of every nine students in Grades 8, 10 and 12 who responded to the survey said they got the drug from patients or caregivers who are legally permitted to use marijuana.
“This measure barely passed at the polls (by 4,300 votes) . . . and people were misled to believe that its recipients would be cancer patients on chemotherapy and glaucoma sufferers — but now they represent a fraction of the users,” Kavanagh said.
Ninety percent of medical marijuana patients cite severe and chronic pain as the reason for using the drug.
Republicans, are also concerned the medical marijuana law conflicts with federal drug statutes.
