Court rules confiscated medical marijuana to be returned

Arizona’s Supreme Court refused to hear Arizona v. Valerie Ann Okun, a medical marijuana case out of Yuma County. A superior court judge ruled that a patient’s possession of marijuana wasn’t illegal under Arizona law, so the weed wasn’t subject to forfeiture.

The high court’s decision settles Arizona law on whether law enforcement would violate federal law if they returned confiscated marijuana to the owner: In the Okun case, the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office refused to obey a superior court judge’s order to return the marijuana to Okun, on the grounds that it would violate federal law if it did so.

The Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear White Mountain v. Maricopa County, in which a Maricopa County Superior Court judge found that the Controlled Substances Act does not preempt the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act. In an effort to thwart the Arizona’s voters’ decision to permit the dispensary of medical marijuana, some have tried to argue government employees are at risk of federal prosecution even if they process a zoning permit for a marijuana dispensary.