April, 14 2010, 03:59pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Mike Meno, MPP director of communications 202-905-2030 or mmeno@mpp.org
Medical Marijuana Expected to Qualify for Arizona Ballot
Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project will turn in more than 250,000 signatures today to place initiative on November ballot
PHOENIX
Today, the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project will submit more than 250,000 signatures to the Arizona Secretary of State's office in order to place medical marijuana on the November ballot in Arizona. The initiative requires 153,365 signatures to qualify for the ballot. Once the initiative qualifies, Arizona voters will be asked on November 2 to vote yes on the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, which would allow terminally and seriously ill patients who find relief from marijuana to use it with their doctor's approval.
"We are proud to turn in these signatures today on behalf of the thousands of patients in Arizona who will benefit from this law once it is enacted," said Andrew Myers, campaign manager for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project. "People suffering from multiple sclerosis, cancer, AIDS, and other serious illnesses should not be forced to seek on the streets the medicine they and their doctors know they need. This initiative proposes instead a dispensary system that will give patients safe and reliable access to medical marijuana if they possess a doctor's recommendation to use it. We look forward to qualifying for the ballot and bringing our message to voters over the coming months."
Upon its passage, medical marijuana will be regulated by the Arizona Department of Health Services and will permit qualifying patients or their caregivers to legally purchase their medicine from tightly regulated clinics, as they would any other medicine - they need not purchase it from the criminal market. It will protect seriously ill patients from arrest and prosecution for the simple act of taking doctor-recommended medicine.
If the initiative qualifies, Arizona will join South Dakota in having medical marijuana initiatives on the ballot this November. Currently 14 states have effective medical marijuana laws, and more than a dozen other states, including New York, Illinois, and Delaware, are considering medical marijuana laws this year.
The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is the number one organization in the U.S. legalizing cannabis. We passed 13 medical cannabis laws in the past 15 years, and we ran winning campaigns in eight of the 11 legalization states. No organization in the movement has changed as many cannabis laws, impacted as many patients and consumers, created as many new markets, or done more to end cannabis prohibition in the U.S. than MPP.
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