Max Smith @GovernorSmith I have today signed an executive order to defer unnecessary cannabis prosecutions for small-quantity personal-use offenders. This is in order to prevent the state from punishing people for harming themselves and to treat drug addiction and cannabis use as the mental disorders they are, not as crimes. |
GOVERNOR MAXIMUS F. SMITH
STATE OF ARIZONA
EXECUTIVE ORDER
Deferral of Prosecutions in certain cases of Cannabis charges
WHERAS, Arizona is committed to preserving the public health of its citizens in its State in criminal law regarding narcotics;
WHERAS, Arizona is also committed to implementing measures regarding narcotics that are effective and just;
WHERAS, the Government of Arizona and Arizona Department of Health Services have considered reform of the state's law on narcotics and marijuana in particular;
WHERAS, the populace of Arizona approved Proposition 203 in the year of 2010 and introduced the legalisation of medicinal marijuana of an amount of no more than 2.5 Ounces in cases of medical reccomendation in order to treat certain qualifying conditions;
WHERAS, the prohibition of the possession of medicinal marijuana on college campuses was deemed unconstitutional by the Arizona Supreme Court;
WHERAS, the prohibition of medical marijuana extracts was deemed unconstitutional by the Arizona Supreme Court;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Maximus F. Smith, Governor of the State of Arizona, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the State, do hereby order, effective at 5:00 pm, on 28 August 2019:
- No prosecution may be undertaken by the Attorney General of the State of Arizona pursuant to A.R.S. §13-3405., other than under the circumstances that;
- the marijuana possessed or used was possessed for sale; or
- the marijuana possessed or used had a weight of one pound or more.
- No prosecution may be undertaken by the Attorney General of the State of Arizona pursuant to A.R.S. §13-3408., other than under the circumstances that;
- the narcotic drug possessed or used was possessed for sale; or
- the narcotic drug possessed or used had a weight of one pound or more; or
- the narcotic drug possessed or used was a narcotic drug other than 'cannabis' as proscribed under A.R.S. §13-3401.20.(w).
- This executive order shall be in effect until January 31, 2020, unless extended.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my official hand and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the State of Arizona.
Maximus F. Smith,
GOVERNOR
DONE at the Capitol in Phoenix on this Twenty-Seventh Day of August in the Year Two Thousand and Nineteen and of the Independence of the United States of America the Two Hundred and Fourty Third.