Until this week, there were three Chicken Littles in Arizona spreading the-sky-is-falling fear about our medical-marijuana law.

In political pecking order (I'll try to keep the poultry puns to a minimum) they are Gov. Jan Brewer, Attorney General Tom Horne and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery.

This week, a dozen more clucking birds joined the flock. (Seriously, I'll try.)

Thirteen county attorneys, including Montgomery, recently sent a three-page letter to Gov. Brewer urging her to prevent the state from issuing licenses for medical-marijuana dispensaries.

It seems that Arizona's political hen house needs a whole new ... wing.

(OK, that's it.)

The argument used by the prosecutors, which is the same one used by Brewer and Horne, is that the state program is pre-empted by the federal Controlled Substances Act.

That's true.

The county attorneys, like the three original Chicken Littles, say they are concerned that government bureaucrats could get busted by the feds for doing the paperwork involved in the permit process.

It doesn't matter that such a thing has not happened.

Other people involved in the medical-marijuana business have been arrested and charged with crimes, but not government workers.

And the U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Bill Solomon said it wouldn't happen here, telling The Arizona Republic, "Specifically, the Department of Justice is focusing its limited resources on significant drug traffickers, not seriously ill individuals and their caregivers who are in compliance with applicable state medical-marijuana statutes."

That doesn't convince a group of politicians who didn't want voters to approve the initiative in the first place.

But we did approve it.

And while Brewer hoped to get the law tossed and continues to express concerns about it, she said that she'll let it take effect.

I've spoken to Montgomery about this in the past. He told me, "If a court says that we can do this I'm fine with this. If a court says that government employees involved in this have a degree of immunity, I'm fine with that. But at the same time, if a court says you can't do this, then you can't do it. It doesn't matter if it was a voter-approved initiative."

He added that a state "doesn't have a right to pass a law that violates the (federal) supremacy clause."

That's a far cry from the tough talk Brewer and others had for the federal government when it came to SB 1070. My favorite quote was when the governor said of the administration's challenge of SB 1070: "Never during our nearly 100 years of statehood has federal interference in ... Arizona affairs ... been more blatant."

We know there are going to be problems when the state's medical-marijuana program is implemented. Some shady people will get involved and, hopefully, will be prosecuted. But there also will be a number of good people who are out only to make a buck and to help people in need.

A while back when I playfully used marijuana slang to criticize tough-talking politicians like Brewer, Horne and Montgomery for trying to prevent a citizen-approved law from going into effect, the county attorney responded.

He (or his public-relations guy) revved up the metaphor machine and fired off a letter to the editor of The Republic that read in part:

"Accusing elected officials of trying to subvert the will of the voters may play well with the stoner crowd. But when subjected to the reality of both law and politics, Montini's argument goes up in smoke... In accusing the governor, state attorney general and me of 'kowtowing to veiled threats that they have no reason to believe will be carried out,' E.J. Montini demonstrates the perils of attempting legal analysis while under the influence of half-baked conclusions."

Half-baked? That's an upgrade. Most angry readers describe my conclusions as raw. At best.

However, now that I've barbecued (or fried, or filleted) our expanded group of Chicken Littles for their sky-is-falling proclamations, critics such as Montgomery might consider shifting their literary focus from marijuana references to poultry products.

For instance, they could say I have egg on my face owing to my scrambled logic.

Or that my cracked point of view fails to hatch a decent argument.

Not that I necessarily expect the entire gaggle of them to gang up on me but, you know, birds of a feather ...

Reach Montini at 602-444-8978 or ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.