Marijuana Blog

Between now and May 25th at 5 p.m. local time, The Arizona Department of Health Services will be taking applications for medical marijuana dispensaries.

Under the state’s medical marijuana law there are supposed to be 126 dispensaries, but lawsuits and other delays have stalled progress. Hopefully now things can get moving at a better pace. It’s important for patients to be able to grow their own, but there can’t be full access without dispensaries.

Those applying for permits to operate dispensaries must pay a $5,000 fee, only $1,000 of which will be returned if they are not approved. Applicants must not be able to write medical marijuana recommendations and not have certain felonies on their record, among other stipulations.

If approved, an operator can have up to 5 dispensaries. State officials estimate they will end up approving about 70 to 80 applications which will be spread evenly throughout the state. There are now more than 22,000 legal MMJ patients in Arizona, with about 85% having requested permission to grow their own.

After applicants are approved sometime this summer and are in operation, they will be able to grow their own cannabis and/or buy it from approved dispensaries, caregivers and patients.

Things have moved slowly in AZ, especially with Governor Jan Brewer doing everything she could to stall forward momentum. But it now seems patients will have full medical marijuana access by the fall. This makes patients in Arizona more fortunate than those in most other states.

Of course, we will see how long their fortune lasts since 126 dispensaries means 126 new targets for the federal government to threaten and/or raid. And as long as things stay the way they are at the federal level, you can bet Arizona will find itself in the crosshairs eventually.

Source: http://www.azcentral.com