Precedent Set: State Supreme Court Rules Police Can’t Arrest Students for Using Medical Pot on Campus

By Jack Burns

 The Arizona State Supreme Court ruled this week that college students  who are medical marijuana users will no longer have to live in fear of  being arrested and labeled as felony drug users if they are caught on  campus with their medicine. 

The ruling also has national implications in states where cannabis is legal for medicinal use but possession on campus is not. The fight for justice in Arizona was led by Arizona State University  (ASU) student Andre Maestas. His dorm room was raided in March 2015, and  .6 grams of cannabis and paraphernalia were found. Despite having an  MMJ card, Maestas was charged with felony possession of marijuana. After medical marijuana was made legal in 2010, state lawmakers  decided to expand the referendum’s prohibitions in 2012 to include K-12  campuses, city buses, correctional facilities and college campuses.  

Maestas and his lawyer, Thomas Dean, fought the felony charges all the  way to the AZ Supreme Court, which sided with the student saying that  the wishes of the people of Arizona must be respected and any  modification to the original medical marijuana referendum must not  further prohibit citizens from access to legal weed. 

According to a report from AZ Capitol Times, the unanimous ruling “paves  the way for any of the state’s other more than 160,000 medical  marijuana patients to have their drugs on campuses without fear of  arrest and prosecution under state law.” The court acknowledged  universities still have the right to refer illegal drug users for  prosecution but said MMJ users (who are AZ state-issued MMJ card  holders) should not be “guaranteed” to be prosecuted if found in possession of legal weed. 

The Arizona ruling has national implications as well as it sets a  precedent for states who may also have legal marijuana programs in place  but also fear the loss of federal funding because the federal  government stubbornly maintains Cannabis as a Schedule I Narcotic as  classified by the Drug Enforcement Agency. According to the ruling from  the Arizona Supreme Court: 

A university does not have to guarantee prosecution for  violations of its program. And it can refer violations of its program to  the federal prosecutor,” the opinion states. “The State has not shown  that a university would lose (or has lost) federal funding if a state  prosecutor did not prosecute violations.

Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and The  University of Arizona have all indicated that they will continue to  enforce board policy and applicable federal laws. Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, The AZ Board of Regents issued  the following statement, which indicates it will continue to respect  federal laws, even though it is a state institution. The statement  reads: 

While the Arizona Supreme Court today has ruled that  medical marijuana patients are not subject to criminal arrest if they  have their drug on college and university campuses, the universities and  the board may enforce administrative policies prohibiting drugs on  campus.

The statement seems to indicate that medical cannabis users may still  be kicked out of the conglomerate of universities. Such actions will  also likely be challenged in court. For now, medical cannabis users may  still want to medicate discreetly, being fully aware that the  universities still have not resolved the details following the ruling. 

Hitting the bong, firing up a joint, or using a vape pen may be  legally allowed in someone’s dorm room, but Dean warned that students  with MMJ cards should not immediately assume they can get away with it.  Students may still be subjected to school discipline or even expulsion  from the dorms if someone such as a Resident Assistant writes them up.  They simply cannot be criminally charged with felonies even if the  students choose do so. 

“Bottom line—it’s not a crime to possess marijuana on university  campuses. It’s not a crime to consume marijuana in a dorm room… The  argument is very strong that vaping is not ‘smoking’ and may, in fact,  be used on the college campus. The Supreme Court struck down the statute  which criminalized MMJ on university campuses, for everybody, visitors,  university professors and students alike,” Dean concluded, adding that a university professor could even vape MMJ in front of the class and not be charged with a felony. 

Dean told The Free Thought Project that he is hopeful an initiative  will put recreational marijuana on the ballot in November, but that he  lacks funding to secure all of the signatures necessary for full  adult-use legalization. Phoenix’s Maricopa County District Attorney Bill Montgomery has yet  to make any public comments on the ruling. Montgomery, whose office is estimated  to receive up to $2 million per year from TASC, a private  drug-treatment company, has been accused of being incentivized to charge  anyone and everyone found in possession of marijuana with felonies—even  if it is just residue. 

The blatant conflict of interest does not seem to faze the DA who has  publicly voiced his objections to medical marijuana, even though legal  weed helps far more people than it harms. Maestas rejected the drug diversion program offered by the DA and run  by TASC, fought the charges, was found guilty, appealed to the AZ  Supreme Court, and won. 

Now Arizona university students who are medical  cannabis users no longer have to fear prosecution, but they also cannot  light up a joint and smoke wherever they wish. Universities still must  iron out those important details to answer the question of how, when and  where they can legally take their medicine. Even though Arizonans have voted to make MMJ legal, possession of cannabis is still considered a serious felony. 

Arizona is the only state in the United States where  possession of cannabis in any amount, even residue, is still considered  a felony. We repeat: It’s the only state. Every other state has  decriminalized possession to a misdemeanor. It is high time—pun intended—for the Arizona State Legislature to end  the practice of making criminals out of its citizens for possession of  small amounts of cannabis. 

Even MMJ users get caught up in TASC, forcing  them to be subjected to legalized extortion of their financial  resources all in an effort to avoid felony convictions on their arrest  records. How can a state have a legal weed program and continue to  charge everyone else with felonies? It just does not make any  sense—unless, of course, it is all about the money. 

Dean said he wants five things from future Arizona cannabis  legislation: immunity from DUI charges for having metabolites in one’s  blood, protection from having one’s children taken away for being a  cannabis consumer, expungement of criminal records for prior marijuana  offenses, marijuana crimes no longer being defined as “felonies” in the  state, and home-growing as a legal option for marijuana consumers. 

Dean told TFTP that he hopes other states refer to the Arizona  decision for guidance. At any rate, history has been made in the state. “We’ve been fighting the marijuana prohibition for 48 years—it’s a  combination of the prison-industrial complex and Reefer Madness,” Dean said. “Medical  marijuana has shown us the sky is not going to fall if people smoke  marijuana legally. We’ve been lied to about this drug. It’s not true  what they’ve told us about cannabis. The government has done the public a  disservice when they lied to us about marijuana and they now run the  risk of never being believed.” 

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