Last week a Superior Court judge ordered Maricopa County to process the zoning paperwork that has been submitted by the applicant for the Sun City CHAA. The Maricopa County Attorney asked for a Stay of the decision while he appealed the case to the Court of Appeals. This morning, the Superior Court judge denied that request [...]
We have a couple of new projects in the works to ensure that the dispensary system reflects a medical rather than a recreational system. We’re working with Arizona's pharmacy/poison control systems to put together a contract to provide technical assistance and educational materials to the future dispensary medical directors. We’re also putting together a contract [...]
It’s been a busy week for our medical marijuana team. Our 2-week dispensary application period ended a couple of hours ago… as did the hearing regarding adding new debilitating medical conditions. We received 484 dispensary applications over the last 2 weeks. As you know, we have 126 Community Health Analysis Areas (CHAAs) and a maximum [...]
Today marks the start of the 2-week window for applying for a medical marijuana dispensary Registration Certificate in Arizona. Prospective applicants can check out our Registration Certificate Application Checklist, Instructions, and the official Application on our Medical Marijuana Dispensary webpage. In the first two hours, seven people had dropped off applications. We’ll start reviewing applications as they come in- and we’ll stop taking applications [...]
As you know from earlier blog posts a judge ruled in a state case that had challenged our dispensary applicant selection criteria. The judge’s decision basically struck down several of the selection criteria we had been planning to use to for competitive areas of the state (areas where there will be more than 1 applicant [...]
With the recent ruling in Maricopa Superior Court, ADHS is analyzing the best way to responsibly begin accepting applications for medical marijuana dispensaries. Last week, the Governor instructed ADHS to proceed with the dispensary portion of the AMMA. One of the stumbling blocks was the pending Compassion First vs. Arizona case, which challenged some [...]
Last May (after receiving a threatening letter from the Arizona U.S Attorney’s Office) the Governor suspended the dispensary portion of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act with a genuine concern that state employees would be federally prosecuted. Last year, we asked the federal court to provide us with guidance regarding the obvious conflicts between the Arizona [...]
Today I was served with a lawsuit that challenges the State (and the Department) for not implementing the dispensary portion of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act. The case, filed in the AZ Court of Appeals, asks a judge to order us to follow the rules that we published on April 14 and begin accepting dispensary [...]
One of our top priorities as we implement the AZ Medical Marijuana Act over the coming months is to ensure that we develop good Rules (called Administrative Code) so we can regulate medical marijuana effectively. Rules that are clear, objective, well-researched, and that balance competing interests are absolutely critical in order to effectively implement a responsible [...]
Maybe. I’ve read the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act several times with an eye toward how we’d execute it’s requirements in case it passes. One of the key decisions is figuring our which of our areas is in the best position to get the job done. I think the best place is Vital Records- at least for [...]
