By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services| Arizona Daily Star
The state’s more than 38,000 medical marijuana users are in no danger of losing their medication, at least not at the ballot box.
Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said Wednesday that he cannot drum up enough legislative support for his bid to ask voters next year to rescind Arizona’s 2010 Medical Marijuana Act. That not only kills the ballot measure for this year, but also makes it unlikely to be resurrected next year.
The problem, Kavanagh said, is political.
“The majority of the members oppose medical marijuana,” he said.
“But there are a lot of people who have expressed concern that that (ballot measure) would bring out people who would not vote Republican in the November election,” Kavanagh said. And he said some GOP lawmakers feel that could result in Democrats picking up strength in the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Kavanagh was clearly miffed at the injection of politics into what he sees as a public health and safety matter.
“I think that is a cold, calculating and, from a policy perspective, poor criteria for supporting something,” he said. “But that’s the political reality.”
If you’d like to discuss medical marijuana, contact Ryan Hurley, director of the Rose Law Group Medical Marijuana Dept.
