July 11, 2016 – Phoenix —
In a bizarre twist, the Arizonans For Responsible Drug Policy (ARDP) has filed a Lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court seeking to prevent the MPP’s “Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol” Initiative from being placed on the Arizona ballot this November.
The Arizonans For Responsible Drug Policy (ARDP) is formed to actively oppose any initiative (including OURS) that would legalize the recreational use of Marijuana in Arizona. Their group includes board members such as Seth Leibsohn, County Attorney Sheila Polk, and County Attorney Bill Montgomery.
According to the language of their Lawsuit and their subsequent Press Release, we know that the ARDP’s lawsuit is based on three claims:
1) The signature sheets are invalid under the strict requirements of A.R.S. § 19-102(A) because they contain a misleading petition summary.
2) The Initiative violates the “Text and Title” Rule in the Arizona Constitution because the Initiative’s text impermissibly goes beyond what its title suggests, and because the Initiative’s text is so incoherent and confusing as to be misleading and a fraud on the electorate. ARIZ. CONST. Article 4, Part 1, § 1(9).
3) The Initiative violates the “Revenue Source Rule” in the Arizona Constitution (ARIZ. CONST. Article. 9, § 23) because it does not provide for its own immediate funding. Instead, the Initiative would impermissibly immediately transfer money from the Medical Marijuana Fund to fund the new program.
As many of you know, our “Marijuana Consumers Against FAKE Marijuana Legalization” group is very much against the MPP’s “Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol” Initiative because we firmly believe that it does MORE HARM THAN GOOD for Arizonans!
We’ve been asked by the Media if our “Marijuana Consumers Against FAKE Marijuana Legalization” group was in any way involved with this lawsuit. The answer is NO, our group was not involved with this lawsuit in any way.
While we sincerely hope that the ARDP Lawsuit is successful because it will make our job easier, we aren’t going to give up on our crusade to educate Arizona Voters about the harms of MPP’s “Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol” Initiative.
I hate liars….and MPP lies about everything their language does, just like they did in Colorado. The news is now clarifying in CO that the marketing of A64 that schools would benefit from the taxes was all a lie. Of the 135million in taxes raised last year 75 million is going to drug education prevention and the rest is for cannabis enforcement, not stopping rapists, not searching for missing children, even when Denver voted pot to be the least important issue for law enforcement in 2007. And the state is currently (unconstitutionality) attacking A20 (MMJ), cutting off home growers from growing more than 6 plants (MJ and MMJ) per property, instead of per person. A64 SCAMpaign promised 6 plants was a floor and not the ceiling. And A20 allows for whatever is medically necessary, not 6 plants.