Our preparation for the implementation of the AZ Medical Marijuana Act is on track. We've made a great deal of progress on all fronts over the last couple of weeks. The informal draft of the Administrative Code that we'll release next Friday is really starting to gel. We've got the key elements hammered out and our [...]
The Phoenix National Disaster Medical System conducted a successful Full-Scale Exercise on Thursday. We sponsored the exercise (with our federal cooperative agreement funds) along with the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care System. The NDMS is a federally coordinated system that supplements the Nation’s medical response capability when local resources are overwhelmed during disasters. The exercise [...]
We published our 17th Annual Child Fatality Review Report this week. Our interdisciplinary team reviewed each and every childhood death that occurred in 2009 with the goal of figuring out how each child died, so that we as public health officials, medical practitioners, families, parents and policymakers can design and implement strategies for avoiding preventable deaths in the [...]
Those of you in Licensing have heard me talk about the difference between compliance and enforcement more than once, but I’ve never written about it. Some people are confused about the distinction I always make between compliance and enforcement. They are 2 very different things. Compliance (as it relates to our licensees) means that a [...]
I thought I’d do a piece each week between now and the end of the year that outlines our goals for the coming year. I’ll start with Licensing this week… We’ll continue on our quest to make the most of our time and effort during our surveys. We’re already doing a good job now, but as [...]
Calcium and Vitamin D are two essential nutrients long known for their role in bone health. Over the last 10 years there’s been a fair amount of controversy about how much people need to stay healthy. To help clarify this issue the Institute of Medicine (IOM) assessed the current data on health outcomes associated with [...]
The Bureau of Tobacco and Chronic Disease sponsored their 2010 Youth Première Event to mobilize Arizona youth in the battle against tobacco. This event marked the first time youth from around the State were brought together to learn about establishing a comprehensive and sustainable statewide youth coalition on issues related to tobacco control and addiction. [...]
There’s a big outbreak of cholera in Haiti, and health officials are working with international agencies to control the outbreak. Cholera causes severe watery diarrhea and can spread easily from person to person through contaminated food and water. The diarrhea caused by cholera results in loss of body fluids, which can cause severe dehydration and, [...]
Throughout my career I’ve learned that a cornerstone of working with the community is to make sure you have a true partnership. Every partnership starts with trust. In order to establish and maintain trust throughout our implementation period, the ADHS needs to ensure that our process is completely fair, open, honest and transparent. Part of [...]
The AZ Medical Marijuana Act states that cities and towns may adopt "reasonable regulations" regarding the location and operations of medical marijuana dispensaries and growing operations in their jurisdictions. The ADHS still has the responsibility to issue the dispensary license- but any license that we ultimately issue would be contingent on the prospective facility being [...]
