The measure to legalize cannabis for recreational use in Arizona will be put to voters after a Maricopa County Superior Court judge threw out a challenge by opponents who argued the initiative ‘mislead’ voters, the Associated Press reports.
Judge Jo Lynn Gentry ruled that the initiative could not legally be challenged due to the passage of a 2015 law preventing any citizen to challenge the legality of initiative petitions.
“Thus, whether wittingly or not, the legislatures eliminated a means by which initiative petitions can be challenged,” Gentry wrote in her opinion.
Seth Leibsohn, Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy chairman, said the group plans on appealing the ruling, calling Proposition 205 “a fraud on the electorate.”
However, even if Gentry’s ruling is overturned she indicated that the group never provided legally-required proof that the initiative is flawed. J.P. Holyoak, chairman for the Campaign to regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, said Gentry’s ruling proves the suit was “frivolous and politically motivated.”
“They should take their arguments to the voters, not to our overburdened court system,” Holyoak said.
The group contended that the proposition doesn’t actually regulate cannabis like alcohol and that voters were not informed in the 100-word summary that adults would be able to possess up to one ounce and be able to grow up to six plants.
Gentry wrote that the “plaintiffs’ position is in essence that the summary should have more fully described what the initiative would do but do not explain how they could do it better.”