Arizona Medical Marijuana Law: Gov. Jan Brewer Signs Measure To Ban Medical Marijuana On College Campuses

By David Schwartz

PHOENIX, April 3 (Reuters) - Arizona's Republican Governor Jan Brewer signed into law on Tuesday a bill to ban medical marijuana from being used on the campuses of state universities and community colleges in the latest salvo in a long-running battle over legalization of the drug.

Arizona's move to bar the drug's use on campus is the latest in a drive to roll back laws legalizing the therapeutic use of marijuana, which remains classified as an illegal narcotic under U.S. federal law.

Supporters said the Arizona law was designed to protect federal funding for institutions of higher education, which they said was at threat if medical marijuana use was allowed in state schools.

"With the health and safety of Arizona's students, as well as literally hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, this legislation is critically necessary," State Representative Amanda Reeve, a Republican, said in a statement.

"Our children and adult students are far too important to risk. I'm proud to say we acted swiftly and decisively when confronted by this obvious concern," she added.

The measure sailed through the state legislature with bipartisan support. The law, due to take effect this summer, is expected to face a legal challenge by medical marijuana proponents.

Arizona voters passed a medical marijuana measure by a razor-thin margin in 2010, and the state is among 16, plus Washington, D.C., with some sort of legalized medical-marijuana statutes, according to the National Drug Policy Alliance.

Reeve said more than $666 million in federal dollars could be jeopardized if Arizona allowed medical marijuana on its higher education campuses. Matthew Benson, a spokesman for Brewer, said that the drug has "no place on a college campus."

"Marijuana remains a federal controlled substance, regardless of whether it is being used as a medicinal agent," Benson said.

The Arizona move comes as the federal government has sought in recent months to shut down storefront medical weed shops and greenhouses in California and other mostly Western states deemed by federal investigators to be serving as drug-trafficking fronts, as well as those located near schools and parks.

On Monday, U.S. federal agents in California raided a San Francisco Bay-area college known as the "Princeton of Pot" and briefly detained its founder. The school, Oaksterdam University, offers courses in growing and dispensing marijuana.

Federal authorities have also intensified their crackdown in Colorado and Washington state, where voters will be deciding in ballot initiatives in November whether to make those states the first to legalize marijuana for recreational use. (Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Earlier on HuffPost:

Comments

[lady joanna]

02:19 PM on 04/05/2012

Are guns banned as well along with all alcohol and beer? Next it will be no hoodies and uniforms the order of the day designed by brewery, oops, brewer herself.

[whoaDaddy]

01:51 PM on 04/05/2012

if a student has been prescribed oxycodone, lives in a dorm, and/or goes to class after taking this medically prescribed controlled substance, there is no law to prevent that. But marijuana?

It is my personal opinion, supported by my knowledge of the enormous sums of money made at the DEA and HS moving marijuana and tax payer money, that marijuana is a controlled substance because the 1% with their fingers in the pot want it that way.
American addicts, drug users, and drinkers are very lucrative for the 1%. why not tax these drugs and use the money to help rehabilitate users? Oh, that's right...people like the Bachmann's have too much money to earn from doing the stupid thing. the smart way is considered bad because nobody earns money and drug users/drinkers might stop consuming.

[Bruce Friedrichsmeyer]

11:14 AM on 04/05/2012

Who will buy the FLIR and the helicopters to put it on, automatic weapons, body armor, fancy SUV's, and all the rest of the toys. Then there is always the "what it looks like on TV" issue. I Million bucks worth of very smelly weed FILLS a table, and looks like a LOT compared to a million bucks worth of easy to hide powders like meth. of course a million bucks worth of meth will do immeasurably more harm to society than the pot will. More likely a meth head will shoot at them too. They don't WANT to end this cash cow we pay for!

[Daniel Lambert]

10:59 AM on 04/05/2012

Yet ASU is one of the largest party schools in the country. I have several friends who attend their and say that marijuana is rarely even around. You can find hardcore drugs faster than you can even roll a joint.

[AdmireBucs]

10:37 AM on 04/05/2012

Governor Jan Brewer recently announced that she would be banning sand from the desert

[genhydroponics]

09:49 AM on 04/05/2012

Yup Teens should not be allowed to use medical marijuana. If they are using to cure certain sickness then they can also consume marijuana via some marijuana recipes.

http://bigbudsmag.com/grow/article/avoid-health-concerns-growing-medical-marijuana-march-2012

[AdmireBucs]

09:08 AM on 04/05/2012

Next.....Banning beer at bars.....

[chatafergie]

09:07 AM on 04/05/2012

Shame on her. To get a prune face like that, she has been sucking on something for years. I bet it was a joint!

[erik can]

08:18 AM on 04/05/2012

i would like to dedicate this beautiful song.. :)

http://youtu.be/OurGZr5EGLY

[Tmus82]

08:04 AM on 04/05/2012

Oh no where ever will people find marijuana on a college campus if it illiglel... I say check the dorms.

[1differentdrummer]

06:39 AM on 04/05/2012

AZ = weird. The state's a mess and they waste time on this nonsense.

[Akshay Singh]

04:51 AM on 04/05/2012

They should ban her face is what I think. Yikes.

[00oneworld00]

03:55 AM on 04/05/2012

Man, I don't get it. Why do Arizonians put up with this woman and her terrible ideas?

[YoungandOpinionated]

02:53 AM on 04/05/2012

The following feedback is coming from a male 19 year old who does NOT smoke pot and I have one question for the US government. Can anyone tell me a good reason why pot is still illegal ANYWHERE for recreational use? I have heard many reasons why it is still illegal but I still don't feel like I have heard a good one. A few reasons I have been told: because congress is full of old folks who have been raised to believe pot is evil, marijuana could cut in on the timber industry, and tobacco companies have lobbyists that keep pot from being legal. Does anyone know a GOOD reason or is it honestly just another stupid law with nothing to stand on?

[Chas Holman]

12:57 AM on 04/05/2012

Banning marijuana from a college campus, is like banning pizza, dough and cheese from a pizza.

College campus's have been rife with the Devils weed for the last 85 years.

All Mrs Brewer has done is to acknowledge she hates sick people. Az has some pretty stringent standards to get a card.. if you get a card under a doctors recommend, chances are you could just as easily get narcotics from them if you asked as well.

Brewer is an.. well. I hate to say, I rarely if ever talk this way about anyone .. but.. well

She is an idiot.