I moved to AZ from IL in 1990 cuz all the gear I bought in IL came from the Phoenix/Tucson area.
And you're right about the drug laws. Is there another state that will throw you in jail for a weed pipe, along w/ a 2500 fine and 1 yrs drug testing? Up until a year or two ago-all bars and liquor sales ended at 1AM, 7 days a week. No exceptions. Now they're upon until 2AM-but on Sundays you can't purchase booze until noon. I guess they don't want anyone skipping church to get drunk? A DUI here will cost you $12K minimum and has a mandatory 2 wks jail time.
Our traffic laws here are Nazi too. I ride a sportbike and if you try to ditch the cops they'll shut down 2 freeways during rush hour and call in a helicopter to nab your ass. It's ridiculous. We even have photo radar on one of our freeways-in addition to most busy traffic intersections.
Still, the weather kicks ass except for the extreme heat in the summer. The chicks all have boob jobs and wear hardly any clothes. Most are skinny too-except for the single moms-which based on our welfare system, we have more of than any other state. It's only rained like 3 times in the past 220 days.
The best part of living in AZ for me over the yrs was everytime the local AAS black market took a hit, you always had the option to drive to Mexico weekly to take your gear and return home w/o breaking any laws. $3 Sostenon preloads anyone? Too bad those days are over.