After months of study and public input, the rules regarding the use and dispensing of medical marijuana in Arizona have been finalized.
Proposition 203 was approved in November, allowing individuals with certain debilitating illnesses to be prescribed marijuana as a method of relieving some of the symptoms of those illnesses. The program officially begins April 14, when the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) will begin accepting patient applications.
The state has been divided into Community Health Analysis Areas (CHAA), which are areas defined by ADHS to track public health statistics. There are 126 such areas, close to the number of dispensaries recommended by ADHS in the state. Navajo County CHAAs include Winslow; Holbrook; Snowflake, Taylor and Heber Overgaard; and Show Low and Pinetop/Lakeside. Only one dispensary will be permitted per CHAA should a dispensary agent choose that area and be selected by ADHS. If no dispensary is located within 25 miles of qualified patients, they will be allowed to grow up to 12 plants on their property for their private use. In addition, a caregiver of a qualified patient may grow plants for that person.
The most obvious change in the rules is the process a dispensary applicant must go through to be considered for the program. The initial rules called for a two-step process under which applicants for each CHAA would be screened for a dispensary registration certificate, then, if eligible, they could apply for an operating license. While that process remains in place, as part of the procedure for the first step an applicant must now include a business plan that shows projected expenditures before and after the dispensary is operational, and the projected revenue.
The rules also encourage dispensary agents to consider rural dispensaries, as it is expected that an overabundance of applications will be received for the urban areas.
According to the ADHS website, in order to make opening a rural dispensary more appealing to applicants, the rules will allow for inventory to be transferred between dispensaries (and their cultivation facilities) by allowing dispensary operators to sell to a wholesale market.
“That way, dispensaries in rural Arizona that may have a limited number of qualified patients can decide that a core part of their business plan is to cultivate for the wholesale market and sell their inventory to dispensaries in urban Arizona,” explained ADHS Director Will Humble.
A provision was also added in the final rules that will allow rural dispensary owners to move their dispensaries anywhere in the state after three years as long as they receive local zoning approval, ADHS approval and pay $2,500 to the state.
“This way, a rural dispensary operator could decide after three years whether they want to move to an area in the state with a higher density of qualified patients,” stated Humble.
ADHS will begin accepting applications for dispensaries on June 1 and will continue to accept applications throughout June. The ADHS website will show when applications are received throughout the month on a CHAA map located on the site. This will allow prospective applicants to see where applications have been received and determine where the competition for registration certificates is most intense.
For more information on Arizona’s Medical Marijuana Policy, visit the ADHS website at www.azdhs.gov/prop203/.
