Author Ray Stern

Wife, kids, pets, mountain climbing -- the usual.

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office could see a substantial drop in revenue if Proposition 205 passes, owing to the sudden disappearance of thousands of marijuana-possession cases.

Prop 205, which Arizona voters will decide on November 8, would give adults 21 and older the freedom to possess personal amounts of marijuana and set up a limited retail-sales system.

Approving Proposition 205 in Arizona would mean a new level of freedom for adults and help lead a national reform of marijuana laws, Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer said in a speech in Tempe on Wednesday.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol brought Blumenauer to Arizona State University to speak on behalf of the marijuana-legalization measure. The Democrat and 20-year member of Congress is one of the nation’s highest-profile pro-marijuana activists.

New campaign-finance records show that billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson forked over $500,000 last week to the group fighting Arizona’s marijuana-legalization measure,Prop 205.

Adelson — CEO and founder of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation — has been using his money to challenge marijuana legalization across the country, and his gift to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy is one of the group’s largest to date. In two weeks, Arizona voters will get to decide whether they want Colorado-style legalization or continued zero-tolerance felony enforcement for cannabis consumers.

Phoenix-based Discount Tire Company and its billionaire owner, Bruce Halle, face a growing boycott movement after making a $1 million donation to help defeat Proposition 205, the ballot initiative to legalize recreational use of marijuana in Arizona.

In August, local immigrant-rights groups organized a boycott after Discount Tire stores posted “Re-Elect Sheriff Joe Arpaio” signs in their windows. An infamous foe of the Latino community, Arpaio is almost certain to facecriminal charges of contempt for violating a federal judge’s orders in connection with the landmark discrimination case Melendres v. Arpaio.

Grijalva.House.Gov

Arizona’s marijuana-legalization ballot initiative, Proposition 205, has been endorsed by the Arizona Democratic Party and several other notable groups and politicians.

Voters will decide the fate of the proposition on November 8. If it’s approved, adults 21 and older could legally possess up to an ounce of marijuana, grow six live plants at home (unless a landlord says no), and buy cannabis products at a limited system of retail cannabis shops like those in the states of Colorado, Oregon, and Washington.

Tim Jeffries, the outspoken director of the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES), wants people to vote no this November on Proposition 205, the ballot measure that seeks to legalize recreational use of marijuana in the state.

Jeffries has donated a total of $1,500 personally to the opposition group,Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy (ARDP), and spoke out about the initiative at least twice on a radio show hosted by Seth Leibsohn, a cofounder of ARDP.

On Monday, DES employees arrived at work to find an e-mail from Jeffries pushing an anti-Prop 205 message from Leibsohn that contained questionable facts.

Ray Stern | Toke of the Town

Mayor John Suthers of Colorado Springs, Colorado, is an outspoken opponent of marijuana legalization — but even he doesn’t support Arizona’s felony-possession law.

Suthers — also a former Colorado Attorney General — came to Arizona this week to denounce Prop 205 on behalf of the opposition group Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy. The proposition, which will appear on November’s ballot, would legalize personal amounts of marijuana for adults 21 and older, and set up a system of cannabis retail shops.

Governor Doug Ducey’s work to defeat marijuana legalization in Arizona has included a lot of behind-the-scenes fundraising, including a pricey propaganda talk this week at a posh hotel.

Ducey’s the headlining special guest for the “roundtable discussion” and reception that begins at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Sanctuary on Camelback, 5700 East McDonald Drive, in Paradise Valley. He’ll be joined by two heavyweight Colorado prohibitionists: John Suthers, mayor of Colorado Springs and former Colorado attorney general; and Sergeant Jim Gerhardt, member of the openly prohibitionist Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force.

You would be forgiven for not recognizing the nondescript brick warehouse in Phoenix’s Grand Avenue industrial district as the site of a high-tech agricultural facility.

But as soon as you step inside, the smell of hundreds of marijuana plants is overwhelming. As you make your way through the small rooms that line the main hallway, you can hear the whoosh of ventilation fans and the gentle hum of huge artificial lights suspended above a lush green canopy of leaves. Reggae, old-school hip-hop, and pop-punk blare from a portable speaker as a crew of 30 or so workers trim, water, and inspect the all-female crop of cannabis plants casually known as “the ladies.”