Arizona Green Rush.

[greenbuddha]

Arizona Preps for Pot Shop Green RushPosted by CN Staff on December 05, 2010 at 12:50:23 PT

By Amanda Lee Myers, Associated Press

Source: Associated Press

 

Phoenix -- One potential pot shop in Arizona would teach customers how to cook marijuana into treats like cookies and "potcorn." Another envisions offering massages, yoga classes, and marijuana meals to go, while a third wants a simple pharmacy-like shop next to an AIDS treatment center. That's just the beginning.

 

Now that Arizona voters have narrowly approved a ballot measure legalizing medical marijuana, state officials are preparing for a green rush of sorts. They expect to be inundated with up to thousands of applications from would-be marijuana dispensaries, and with only 124 spots approved statewide, the majority will have to be turned away.

 

"Most other states, you hang out a shingle and you're a dispensary," said Will Humble, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, which will regulate Arizona's medical marijuana industry. "I want to avoid those kinds of abuses."

 

Arizona's medical marijuana measure won by just 4,341 votes this month of more than 1.67 million ballots counted, making the state the 15th to approve a medical marijuana law. Arizona officials are hoping to avoid the problems they perceive in other states, including California, where patients are reported receiving a pot recommendation from a doctor for having a headache. In Colorado, dispensaries opened without any regulation from state officials.

 

Humble sees limiting the number of dispensaries and putting stringent requirements in place as a way to avoid such issues.

 

The department is currently considering three methods to decide who gets dispensary licenses and who will be turned away: Approve qualified applicants on a first-come, first-served basis, choose the winners from all applications using a lottery system, or closely examining each applicant and picking the 124 with the best business and security plans.

 

Humble favors the third — and most time-consuming — method, although he fears that those turned down would perceive the system as unfair.

 

No matter the method, dispensary hopefuls will have to pay up to $5,000 to apply for a license. In their application, they'll need to include addresses for their pot shops and offsite marijuana cultivation facilities, detailed security plans to prevent break-ins, procedures for accurate record-keeping, information about employees for background checks, a sworn statement that they're meeting a given municipality's zoning requirements, and a statement pledging they will not sell pot to anyone who isn't a registered patient.

 

The department is working to post a draft of proposed requirements on Dec. 17. Finalized rules will come out at the end of March after a public comment period.

 

Carolyn Short, chairwoman of Keep AZ Drug Free, said her group believes the law will increase crime around dispensary locations, lead to more people driving while impaired and eventually cause more teenagers to use marijuana.

 

She said she doesn't feel comforted by the number limiting dispensaries. "Marijuana is not a medicine, it is a controlled substance."

 

Arizona's measure will allow patients with diseases including cancer, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C and any other chronic or debilitating disease that meets guidelines to buy 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks or grow a limited number of plants themselves if they live 25 miles from a dispensary.

 

Patients must get a recommendation from their doctor and register with the state health department.

 

The limit of 124 dispensaries is based on the medical marijuana measure's wording that says dispensaries will be limited to 10 percent of the number of pharmacies in the state, but that every one of Arizona's 15 counties will have at least one dispensary.

 

"Oh my God, I believe they're going to have 5,000 applications, and that's probably a minimum," said Allan Sobol, a longtime marketing and consulting professional who is acting as a spokesman for a would-be marijuana dispensary in north Phoenix called the Medical Marijuana Dispensaries of Arizona.

 

"They're going to be buried," he said.

 

The would-be dispensary already has its shop open, without the marijuana, and is holding paid seminars for other dispensary hopefuls to teach them what they need to do to be a successful candidate.

 

Sobol said in addition to medical marijuana and some paraphernalia, the dispensary plans to have cooking classes for patients who can't or don't want to smoke pot for treatment. He said he thinks the state should choose licensees on a first come, first-served basis among qualified applicants.

 

Greg Rogan, a Tucson pharmacy owner who plans to apply for a dispensary license, said he thinks the state should approve dispensaries based on their qualifications, not who applies first or wins a lottery.

 

Rogan said he wants his dispensary to be near his pharmacy, The Medicine Shoppe, which also is next to the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation and many potential medical marijuana cardholders.

 

He said he's looking to run a simple dispensary that focuses on treatment and education about various ways to safely ingest marijuana.

 

"For us, it's not about making a quick buck," he said. "It's providing medicine to people who can benefit from it and need it."

 

Jason Medar, a prospective dispensary owner who owned two now-closed dispensaries in Southern California, said he's confident his business will get a license.

 

He said he's working with a group of doctors who are opening up their own clinic to make marijuana recommendations to qualifying patients and wants to open his dispensary in central Phoenix, named the Arizona Patients Association.

 

He said the dispensary would have marijuana in various forms, including pot cooked in food and drinks made in the dispensary for patients to take to-go. He also wants to offer therapeutic massages, martial arts and yoga classes.

 

Source: Associated Press (Wire)

Author: Amanda Lee Myers, Associated Press

Published: December 5, 2010

Copyright: 2010 The Associated Press CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives

http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml

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[Guest finallyfree09]

they could do this here in michigan. but... we already have an abundance of caregivers producing cannabis. instead of making the dispensaries grow the product, our legislators shouold allow existing caregivers to sell their overages to the dispensaries.

 

keep the business portion of this with the little guy not big business. can u imagine how rich the owners of dispensaries would be if there were only 1 per county? spread that wealth to the people that REALLY deserve it.... the unemployed or nearly disabled little guys of michigan.

[Guest Happy Guy]

Arizona's measure will allow patients with diseases including cancer, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C and any other chronic or debilitating disease that meets guidelines to buy 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks or grow a limited number of plants themselves if they live 25 miles from a dispensary

 

You can only grow if you live more than 25 miles from a dispensary. If they have one per county that would be.... nobody gets to grow but them. And they expect each patient to spend $24000 a year at the dispensary. Either it's like a different world there economically or they are in for one rude awakening.

[bobandtorey]

Arizona's measure will allow patients with diseases including cancer, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C and any other chronic or debilitating disease that meets guidelines to buy 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks or grow a limited number of plants themselves if they live 25 miles from a dispensary

 

You can only grow if you live more than 25 miles from a dispensary. If they have one per county that would be.... nobody gets to grow but them. And they expect each patient to spend $24000 a year at the dispensary. Either it's like a different world there economically or they are in for one rude awakening.

 

 

http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/central_phoenix/State-looks-for-input-on-medical-marijuana

PHOENIX, AZ - Arizona's Department of Health Services is promising it won't make the same mistakes California and Colorado have made when it comes to the dispensing of medical marijuana.

 

"Many of these other states were unsuccessful because they didn't have these checks and balances in place," said Director Will Humble.

 

Humble says right now rules being drafted would require a licensed medical director on site, medical cards for those who have been recommended the drug, and numerous doctor visits.

 

"The patients also have to start off with an existing relationship that you have with a doctor, you can't just go in to any doctor," Humble said.

 

Allan Sobol who runs Marijuana Marketing Strategies says the more rules the better.

 

"These regulations are gong to be very complicated and very readily regulated," he said. "Some people laugh at me and say they're not going to be that bad."

 

But he says the rules will be tough.

 

Marilyn Gleckler hopes to be one of the 120 chosen to run a dispensary here in the Arizona and likes what she's seeing so far in the rules.

 

"I think a lot of rules and regulations are good to keep it as legitimate and professional as possible," she said. "I like that you have to have a Medical Director, and that you have to have a lot of security."

 

Applications won't be available until April and the state promises heavy scrutiny on those wanting to open a dispensary, but in the meantime they are asking for public input.

 

"Give us credible alternatives, things, ideas we can work with to make the rules work as best as they can for those who need medical marijuana and keep it out of the hands for those who don't need it," said Cara Christ, Medical Director and Bureau Chief for Epidemiology and Disease Control.

 

To get your voice heard go to azdhs.gov/prop203 and fill out the electronic comment

 

 

[bobandtorey]

they spell theirs with a J

http://www.azdhs.gov/prop203/documents/Medical-Marijuana-Draft-Rules.pdf

[bobandtorey]

well this is not Mich but they sure will have a hard time getting their cards their

[bobandtorey]

Taking a lesson or two from the states that allow the use of medical marijuana, regulators in Arizona are proposing strict rules for potential users and prescribers of medical marijuana in the state, according to a feature on The Washington Post.

 

Estimates now peg the number of people who can potentially use medical marijuana, under the stricter rules, at no more than 20,000 – a decline from the earlier estimate of 100,000 patients. The changes to the estimates were made after a review of the rules that are being followed in other states that allow the use of medical marijuana, as well as the number of users in those 14 states.

 

During a news conference, Will Humble, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, shared: “We figured hey, if we put some true checks and balances in this system, we can actually make this a medical marijuana program and not a recreational marijuana program.”

 

Arizona became the 15th state to allow the use of medical marijuana after the November vote.

 

The medical marijuana ballot measure in Arizona will allow patients who are suffering from cancer, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, and other chronic diseases, to buy 2.5 ounces of marijuana every two weeks, or grow a limited number of plants – that is, if they live 25 miles from a marijuana dispensary.

 

In order to qualify for treatment using medical marijuana, a patient should secure a recommendation from an Arizona doctor who has been seeing the patient for at least a year, or has compiled a medical history of the patient, conducted a comprehensive exam and reviewed medical records before taking over primary care, among other rules.

 

 

 

Read more: http://hometestingblog.testcountry.com/?p=10901#ixzz19AwviWs5

[bobandtorey]

Marijuana is one of many banned substances, one police have been trained to deal with for decades.

 

But what happens when that banned substance is only partially banned?

 

That is the situation law enforcement will be dealing with in a few short months, when medical marijuana dispensaries and facilities open for business and patients using marijuana become part of the equation.

 

So, how will police deal with the change?

 

Officials from the Surprise and Peoria police departments say, for the most part, it will be business as usual.

 

The Surprise Police Department treats all drug and alcohol offenders who drive under the influence the same way — and plans to patrol for medical marijuana the same way it does for other similar crimes, said Mark Ortega, the department’s spokesman.

 

Ortega said there must be some other primary offense taking place, such as the car’s headlight being out or the motorist speeding or weaving in and out of traffic, to stop the motorist in the first place.

 

Ortega admitted determining whether someone operating a vehicle is under the influence of marijuana “isn’t as black and white” as someone who’s under the influence of alcohol. Still, Ortega said officers will question drivers who they suspect to be impaired by marijuana about how the drug is affecting their ability to drive and answer questions.

 

Even for those who may receive a prescription for medical marijuana from a physician, getting behind the wheel and feeling the effects of marijuana — drowsiness, fatigue, feeling tired — could land that individual behind bars or with a citation.

 

Ortega said drug recognition officers can test a motorist for marijuana with a blood or urine test should they determine their level of impairment is high or they are a danger to others on the road. Officers could also conduct a urine or blood test on motorists based on them “wreaking of pot,” much like officers do for motorists who smell of alcohol, he said.

 

Just like police officers don’t target individuals who exit a bar, they will also not wait outside medical marijuana dispensaries to find people who are under the influence and are about to get behind the wheel, Ortega said.

 

Mike Tellef, spokesman for the Peoria Police Department, said his agency will adapt like they always do.

 

“It’s like any new law,” he said. “We just have to be sure people understand what the law says.”

 

While Tellef said he does not envision any new problems as a result of legalized medical marijuana, he did say some existing problems could gain a new dimension.

 

“We have a big problem with forged prescriptions already,” he said. “So we might see an increase in that area. We are also concerned that people might have a kind of misguided freedom that it is OK to drive under the influence. Those two things are the biggest concerns for us.”

 

Tellef said they will not know exactly what they are dealing with until March.

 

“We don’t know how well it’s going to go until it rolls out. It’s new to us, too,” he said.

 

 

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