AG seeks to outlaw hashish in Arizona, even for medical pot card holders
PHOENIX — Attorney General Mark Brnovich is asking the Arizona Supreme Court to declare possession of hashish a crime, including for patients, even as state-licensed dispensaries sell not just that but other products and edibles made with marijuana extracts, all apparently with the knowledge and approval of state health officials.
In new court filings, Brnovich contends that the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act approved by voters in 2010 legalized only the use of the leaves and flowers and preparations of them by those who have a doctor’s recommendation to use the drug. He said that while hashish is the resin of the marijuana plant, the act of separating it from the leaves and flowers makes what results illegal.
But former State Health Director Will Humble, who crafted the rules when the law was adopted, said that’s not how he reads the law.
“To me, it’s a plain reading of the words,’’ he told Capitol Media Services.
More to the point, Humble said he and his staff wrote the health department’s rules for what can be sold at state-licensed dispensaries in consultation with the Attorney General’s Office. And at no time, he said, did any of the attorneys there say that extracts like hashish should be excluded.
Humble also noted that the department, now under the direction of Cara Christ, continues to allow for the sale of edibles even after he quit in 2014. For example, the department has published recommendations for the safe practice of handling marijuana extracts and making edible products containing marijuana. And the agency even has a separate application for those who want to operate dispensary infusion kitchens. And Humble dismissed any suggestion that hashish — the issue in the legal battle — is somehow legally different than other extracts that are now used to make edible products. In both cases, he said, it’s a preparation.
“It started with the marijuana flower and ended up with hashish,’’ he said.
In a prepared statement, the health department said it has been “monitoring’’ development in the pending lawsuit “and will comply with any decision of the Arizona Supreme Court.’’
The 2010 law allows those with certain medical conditions and a doctor’s recommendation to obtain up to 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks. Those conditions range from glaucoma and AIDS to post-traumatic stress disorder and severe and chronic pain.
At last count, more than 180,000 individuals had qualified as medical marijuana patients. One of them was Rodney Jones, who in 2013 was found in possession of a jar containing 0.05 ounces of hashish. Prosecuted by the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office, he was found guilty and sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for possession of a narcotic drug and a concurrent oneyear term for drug paraphernalia — specifically, the jar holding the hashish.
A divided state Court of Appeals sided with prosecutors, agreeing that hashish, essentially the resin of the cannabis plant, is legally not the same as the plant itself. More to the point, the majority concluded the 2010 law makes it legal to possess only the plant itself and not the resin. Now attorneys for Jones want the Supreme Court to conclude otherwise. And that petition puts Brnovich, whose office handles criminal appeals, in the position of defending the conviction and the lower court rulings.