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With the Colorado state capitol building visible in the background, partygoers danced to live music and smoked pot during last weekend's annual 4/20 marijuana festival in Denver. Some groups in Colorado said the weekend's open marijuana consumption sends the wrong message about the state.

( AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the mere presence of marijuana in a driver's bloodstream isn't enough for an impaired driving charge, the Arizona Daily Star reports.

Here's how Capital Media Services reporter Howard Fischer characterized the significance of the high court's ruling:

Today's ruling most immediately affects the more than 40,000 Arizonans who are legal medical marijuana users. It means they will not be effectively banned from driving, giving how long the metabolite, Carboxy-THC, remains in the blood. It also provides protection against impaired driving charges for anyone else who drives and has used marijuana in the last 30 days, including those who might be visiting from Washington or Colorado, where recreational use of the drug is legal.

The case before the court involves a driver cited for a traffic violation who, when given a blood test, was found to have Carboxy-THC in his system and was charged with driving with an illegal drug or its metabolite in his body.

Arizona Republic columnist E.J. Montini called the ruling "a victory for common sense" and for medical marijuana patients.

Other marijuana headlines worth your time:

Pro-marijuana 4/20 events face backlash from legalization skeptics (John Ingold, The Denver Post)

Medical marijuana: Washington County adopts one-year ban on dispensaries (Simina Mistreanu, The Oregonian)

(Photo gallery by

for The New York Times)

-- Noelle Crombie