Homeless in Arizona

AZ Supreme Court allows medical marijuana on probation

Michael Kiefer, The Republic | azcentral.com 2:31 p.m. MST April 7, 2015

The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday issued two rulings banning courts and prosecutors from denying marijuana use as a term of probation if the convicted felons have valid medical marijuana cards.

In one case, a man convicted of possessing marijuana for sale in Cochise County was forbidden from using marijuana by a probation officer after he was released from prison.

In the second, a woman pleading guilty to DUI in Yavapai County refused to accept abstention from marijuana as a term of probation, prompting the prosecution to withdraw the plea agreement.

Both had valid medical marijuana cards.

The Supreme Court ruled that both had the right to use marijuana for their medical conditions and that prosecutors and courts could not block that right as a term of probation. The court did rule, however, that the Yavapai County Attorney's Office had the right to withdraw from the offered plea agreement because it had not yet been accepted by a judge.