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An Overview Of The Regulations For Arizona Medical Marijuana

Arizona became the 15th state to legalize medical marijuana with Prop 203 passing in November of 2010. It was a very close vote.

Since the legalization, the AZ Dept of Health Services has been diligently working on completing regulations about the ID cards, qualifying diseases, dispensing, and growing. They are trying to avoid the mistakes other states have made, such as California, by limiting the amount of dispensary licenses offered. California has more medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles than McDonald’s or Starbucks by a 2 to 1 ratio. AZ had voted in AZ medical marijuana  twice before however due to the difficult way the laws were written, it never actually amounted to reality.

For the whole state of Arizona, 124 licenses will be given out. It looks like there may be around five thousand applications for the licenses. The state would like to track the inventory from seed to cultivation to dispensary to patient. That will hopefully minimize marijuana from being siphoned into the world of drug dealers.If the state can track the inventory as it is produced and also track it going into the dispensaries, then it can monitor for what effectively would be “shoplifting” of the drug.

For example, AZ wants each dispensary to grow its own marijuana. Dispensaries will be required to grow at least 70% of the product they dispense. The cannabis needs to be grown on site in an enclosed area with sufficient security. Since dispensaries will be in communities, neighbors will not be extremeley pleased if they can see a marijuana crop being grown next to their backyard. So for those areas it will need to be enclosed.

As things are now, the procedure for individuals to get an arizona marijuana id card is as follows. There are thirteen disease states so far qualifying for a marijuana recommendation or “certification”. The AZ marijuana doctors who can write for the certifications include DO’s, MD’s, Homeopathic Doctors, and Naturopathic Docotrs. A prescription is not being provided, but rather a “recommendation” or “certification”. No prescriptions are allowed since marijuana is federally illegal.

Especially because marijuana maintains a Schedule 1 narcotic status. Those drugs may not be utilized without express permission from both the DEA and FDA. Medical providers will have to conduct a live physical examination and look at twelve months of medical records for the individual as they pertain to the debilitating medical condition for which marijuana is being considered. This is different from other states who can utilize tele-medicine to make a recommendation. Also, if a doctor is evaluating someone for a marijuana recommendation, it would be nice if that doctor was available for subsequent visits. How can that be accomplished if it is a television exam?

So if a qualifying doctor deems a patient to have a qualifying condition, he or she may issue a certification recommendation. That doctor is protected from prosecution based on the First Amendment. Then the person can take that certification to the AZ Health Services Dept and apply for their Marijuana ID Card.

What specifically are the conditions that qualify? So far there are 13 in the Draft Rules, including Cancer, Glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis C, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Crohn’s Disease, Agitation of Alzheimer’s disease, and chronic or debilitating medical conditions that cause cachexia, wasting syndrome, severe nausea, seizures, or muscle spasms (such as with Multiple Sclerosis). In addition, there is a statement in the draft rules which says “A debilitating medical condition or treatment approved by the dept…CA and additional states allow for more conditions for their Marijuana cards and AZ may allow for that eventually.

With an AZ medical marijuana ID card, individuals can then purchase and smoke marijuana. The patient will be allowed to purchase up to 2.Two and a half ounces of marijuan every 2 weeks from a licensed dispensary. The person will be allowed to grow his or her own marijuana (up to a certain amt) if there is no dispensary within 25 miles of that person. Patients will not be allowed to consume marijuana at the dispensary. This is different from other states. Other states such as Oregon and CA allow individuals to ingest and/or smoke marijuana on the dispensary premises.

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