The Arizona Supreme Court yesterday unanimously ruled that the deceptive and misleading initiative to legalize recreational marijuana would remain on the November 3 ballot.
Center for Arizona Policy President, Cathi Herrod explained, “Arizonans for Health and Public Safety had spelled out very clearly for the court how the 100-word summary used to collect signatures misled voters contrary to state law requirements, and should, therefore, invalidate all signatures gathered.”
The summary written by the marijuana industry conveniently left out key information, and out right misstated the facts, such as the incorrect claim Prop 207 “protects” employers rights, or the failure to disclose it would weaken current DUI laws, and more. Despite this, the court unanimously rejected the challenge, clearing the way for Prop 207 to appear on the November ballot.
Lisa James, Chairwoman for Arizonans for Health and Public Safety, responded to the court’s ruling by stating, “We are disappointed in the decision, which sets a concerning precedent for our voter initiative process going forward. Our goal was to ensure voters were informed. But neither the 100-word statement or this decision will stop us from educating voters from now through November on the dangers of this sweeping 17-page initiative.”
Lead counsel and former Congressman, John Shadegg summed it up, “The purpose of the 100-word summary is to provide a transparent description of what the measure will do. This summary was anything but that. The message this ruling sends is that voters cannot trust the 100-word summary. In this case Big Marijuana sought to deceive Arizona voters and got away with it.”
“Now that this has advanced to the ballot, it’s time for Arizonans to be taking a close look at all 17 pages. This is an initiative that will harm our kids, put us at more risk on the road, hurt Arizona’s economy, and lock us into bad policy,” said James. “Marijuana could be legalized in two pages. But that’s not what they did. Big Marijuana spent millions of dollars to craft language that will bring big money to their pocketbooks. We’re confident that once informed, Arizonans will reject this in November.”
Cathi Herrod added, “We will press on, as we always do, to ensure voters know what Prop 207 authors worked so hard to hide. I am confident that when voters learn the details of this particular measure, they will, again, reject legalizing recreational marijuana in Arizona.”
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