IPFS News Link • Drug War

"Medical marijuana a healing plant for medically needy" former prosecutor

02-14-2013 • Glendale Star

By A. Melvin McDonald | 2 comments I was a prosecutor with the Maricopa County Attorney's office from 1970-1974. I served seven years as a Maricopa County Superior Court judge after leaving the County Attorney’s office. In 1981, I was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to serve as U.S. Attorney. The top priority of my office from 1981-1985 was fighting the drug war. While serving as United States Attorney, I was a member of the Advisory Committee to U.S. Attorney General William French Smith and was involved in setting national policies and priorities. It would be natural, based on my background, to assume that I would oppose Arizona’s voter-approved medical marijuana law, which allows people with certain medical conditions to have access to medical marijuana through state-licensed regulated dispensaries. But sometimes it takes extraordinary circumstances to get people to see ordinary truths. And that is the case with me. So here is my story. In 1997, my 14-year-old son was hit