Arizonans Support Medical Marijuana

We have made the ballot!

For more than a year, the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project, backed by MPP, has been working hard on behalf of medical marijuana patients in Arizona. The AMMPP team, led by campaign manager Andrew Myers, coordinated a signature drive through all kinds of weather and at all kinds of coffee shops. The men and women doing the most challenging task of circulating petitions collected more than 250,000 signatures. It was a grueling ordeal.

Yesterday, we received our reward. The Secretary of State informed AMMPP that our medical marijuana initiative has qualified for the November ballot! We are well on our way to making medical marijuana legal in Arizona! In the not-too-distant future, we should have a limited number of dispensaries making medical marijuana available for patients across the state.

65% of Arizona voters support removing criminal penalties for the medical use of marijuana, according to a February 2009 poll. And voters have already passed medical marijuana initiatives twice in the state, in 1996 and 1998. Unfortunately, due to a technical error in the wording of these laws, they have failed to effectively protect medical marijuana patients from arrest. The initiative that will go before voters in 2010 will close this loophole and give patients the protection and peace of mind that Arizonans agree they deserve.