Arizona Republic:  “Second marijuana initiative filed . . . The Campaign to Legalize and Regulate Marijuana filed paperwork last week for a competing effort to legalize marijuana, potentially jeopardizing any effort to legalize the drug in 2016.  Like the first initiative, the group seeks to let adults carry up to an ounce of marijuana and proposes a 15 percent tax to help fund public education. However, those who carry more than 8 ounces of marijuana could be slapped with a misdemeanor, as opposed to a felony, as the first initiative proposes.”

Phoenix New Times:  “A law-enforcement task force in Yavapai County cut a $50,000 check from RICO funds to a substance-abuse group dedicated to fighting marijuana legalization in Arizona, New Times has learned.  The deal between the Yavapai County-based Partners Against Narcotics Trafficking (PANT) task force and MATFORCE was made soon after the Marijuana Policy Project announced it would launch a 2016 legalization campaign in Arizona — and more public funding against legalization could be on the way.  Last week, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich issued an opinion, based on a question by Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, that public resources could continue to “educate” the public about the alleged evils of marijuana legalization.”