The chair of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol is swinging back after a lawsuit was filed to block the recreational marijuana initiative.
Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, along with Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and a number of other community leaders filed the preliminary injunction in Arizona Superior Court on Monday.
"This is purely politically-driven and there's no merit to the case," CRMLA chair J.P. Holyoak said Tuesday. "This is clearly an attempt by elected officials, the county attorneys and a current sitting state representative to try to remove an issue from the ballot because they personally disagree with it."
The complaint alleges the campaign used deceptive information to get petition signatures. Seth Leibsohn, the ARDP chair, said the text of the initiative and what has been promoted by the campaign is vastly different.
"Anyone who read the petition summary would not have any idea of the warp and woof of the initiative. It affects DUI laws, it affects landlord/tenant laws, welfare laws, all kinds of public safety as well as employer drug testing laws," Leibsohn said.
CRMLA turned in more than 250,000 petition signatures to the state and is waiting to hear if there were enough valid signatures to be on the November ballot. They need around 150,000 valid signatures.
The initiative proposes a 15% tax on retail marijuana sales which would go to public health and education. It also allows adults 21 and older to possess, consume and grow limited amounts of marijuana.
ARDP expects the case to be heard in the next week or two.
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