Dispensary Finish Line?
We've issued 61 medical marijuana dispensary operating licenses so far with only 2 weeks left on the 52 week time-clock. We have 21 more inspections scheduled between now and August 6, which is the deadline for Registration Certificate holders to get their Approval to Operate License so they can renew their Certificate (a 1-year timeframe). The biggest hang up with the [...]
Smoke Free Arizona at 6
Our Smoke Free Arizona program turned 6 last month. Voters approved the Act back in November of ’06 by a few percentage points. The Initiative language gave us a super-short turn-around time and we turned the key on the program by May of ’07. Implementation of the Initiative was smooth from the get-go and compliance with the voter approved law has been [...]
Pregnancy & Group B Strep
Decisions about what to do to protect babies born at home from Group B Streptococcus caused quite a stir as we were developing our final regulations for the practice of Midwifery in AZ. Group B Streptococcus bacteria are commonly found in healthy women. In fact, about 25% carry the bacteria. It doesn’t cause much of a problem for women, except [...]
Petitions to Add Debilitating Conditions to the MM List
The AZ Medical Marijuana Act also requires us to periodically accept petitions to permanently add new medical conditions to the list of conditions that qualify folks for a card. In Jan 2012, we’ve received petitions to add PTSD 1; PTSD 2; Depression; Migraines; and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. In short- I didn’t approve the petitions because of the lack of published data regarding the risks and [...]
An AZ Monsoon Staple: The Scorpion
In the Sonoran Desert monsoon = scorpion season. We have more than 56 species of scorpions- but the bark scorpion is the biggie. Since you live in the bark scorpion’s territory, you probably have them around or maybe even inside your home. The Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center and Banner Good Samaritan Poison & Drug Information Center answer thousands of calls every year [...]
HIP2 Launches New Website
Health in Policy and Practice Arizona (HIP2) has launched a new website. HIP2 is a great local resource for Health Impact Assessment data and information. Health Impact Assessments are a data-driven tool used to assess the potential health impacts of a policy, project, program or proposal. They’re a great tool to ensure that health and health disparities are considered in decision-making [...]