Montgomery to appeal ruling on Arizona medical marijuana law

PHOENIX – Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery says he’ll ask the Arizona Supreme Court to review a lower court’s ruling that the state’s medical marijuana law is constitutional in requiring counties to approve reasonable zoning regulations.

The Court of Appeals’ ruling Tuesday rejected Montgomery’s argument that the state medical marijuana law is pre-empted by the federal Controlled Substances Act, a federal law that still makes marijuana illegal.

The case in the appeal decided by the appeals court started with a legal dispute over whether Maricopa County officials had to approve zoning for a medical marijuana dispensary in Sun City.

Montgomery reacted to the latest ruling by saying that allowing Arizona’s medical marijuana program to stand despite the federal law undermines federalism and the “fundamental principle of the rule of law.”

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