Last Wednesday we held a Medical Marijuana Dispensary Collaborative.  It was modeled after last year’s successful ADVICE Collaborative, which brought dialysis facilities together to share best practices and engage in a dialog to reduce infection control violations and improve patient care.  The goal of the meeting was to avoid future deficiencies by ensuring that dispensaries understand our expectations and to help us better understand their challenges. 

The Dispensary Collaborative had a great turnout, with almost 150 dispensary agents, board members, and medical directors. The all-day meeting covered dispensary inspection results, patient and dispensary agent educational resources offered by the Arizona Poison Control, the administrative rules process, financial audit requirements (including the difference between profit and non-profit entities), and our computerized Point of Sale system that’s used by dispensaries to verify the status of cards and record marijuana transactions. 

Overall, the input and suggestions that we received from the dispensaries was constructive and will be helpful as we continue to move forward with building a solid relationship with our dispensary stakeholders.