Hope for the Arizona Patient?
In November 2010, Arizona voters approved Proposition 203. Known as the "Arizona Medical Marijuana Act", Prop 203 was what is known as a "voter initiative"- where citizens directly change or add to the laws of the state, bypassing the legislature. A group of people wrote the initiative that they hoped would become law, and collected the required number of petition signatures to put it before the voters. The proposition became statute, and the state prepared to implement it without resistance (unlike the previous two times a MMJ law was approved in AZ). Sounds good, eh? Sick people get their medicine without fear of the law, what could be wrong with that? Plenty, it turns out.
To make a long story short, the initiative was written by folks more interested in enriching themselves than in helping ill people. With a series of clever provisions, they intended to completely control the market. Home growing by the patient, while allowed technically by the new law, would be prohibited in practice by a 25 mile "no grow zone" around every dispensary, and a 2.5 oz possession limit. The 25 mile limit excluded >95% of the population from growing, and the 2.5 oz limit made outside cultivation pointless (unless you only use 2.5 oz for the whole year). For those few that would be approved to grow their own, the 2.5 oz limit would make it much more difficult to grow inside too. Sure, you can have 12 plants of any size, no square foot or watt limit, but you can only possess 2.5 oz of usable herb at a time! If you grew 12 one oz plants, when you harvested you would have to throw out 9.5 oz before it dried, or you would be breaking the law. Expert growers could work out a system that would stagger harvests to keep a steady supply without exceeding the limit, but it would beyond the skills of most. (a patient approved for growing could also process a larger harvest while it was still wet into concentrates, the bud is not usable under the law until dried) The end result is that almost all patients would have to buy their medicine from a dispensary.
While the patient is regulated into reliance on the dispensaries, the dispensaries had almost no limits placed on their activities. They could grow and sell as much as they cared to, at the price they wanted to. Normally this would be fine, as competition between dispensaries would keep the price down, and encourage quality and variety. The authors of the initiative stacked the deck in their interests, however, with a limit on the number of dispensaries that would be allowed. They also encouraged heavy oversight by the state, making start up costs large. These things heavily favored the well funded, and those with experience running a MMJ dispensary (aka the authors of the initiative), in the competition for the limited number of licenses. They would end up virtually monopolizing the whole scene. Patients would be forced to buy from dispensaries, and the authors of the proposition would control the dispensaries, the price, the quality and selection.
It seemed like they had it locked up. Arizona got owned by these guys.
Then, something happened.
The plan relied on the policy of the Federal Government. The Obama Justice Department had said that they would not pursue people who were in compliance with state laws. This was the green light to folks who saw Arizona as a cash cow. The intent was to step in, take control and rake in the cash.
The new development is this: it turns out that what the Obama Justice Department said it would do isn't quite what they are actually doing. They are going after dispensaries and large grows, even if they are following state law to the letter, and even expressed an intent to prosecute state officials who run the programs! Here is a good article on the situation.The State of Arizona is one of the states that has received one of the warning letters mentioned in the article. This is the letter the State of Arizona has received from the US Attorney for the District of Arizona that outlines their position. Anyone planning on growing a large amount, or selling, should pay attention to this quote from the letter: "The United States Attorney for the District of Arizona will continue to VIGOROUSLY PROSECUTE individuals and organizations that participate in unlawful manufacturing, distribution and marketing activity involving marijuana, EVEN IF such activities are permitted under state law." The same letter also says that they have been told by their bosses that "USAOs ought not focus their limited resources on those seriously ill individuals who use marijuana as part of a medically recommended treatment regimen and are in clear and unambiguous compliance with such state laws." and that they would follow that advice and leave the personal user alone.
What if there were NO dispensaries, because the Feds bust anyone that sets one up? Well, ALL the patients would be more than 25 miles from a dispensary and would then qualify to grow their own under state law, but be ignored by the feds.
What if the DHS stopped administering the program, stopped issuing cards, because they were afraid of being prosecuted themselves? The law states that if the DHS fails to do its part, all a patient needs to be legal is the doctor's recommendation!
So it looks like it is possible that the average patient/caregiver will be immune to state prosecution, and ignored by the feds, while the state will be prohibited from implementing any rules/management, and the dispensaries cease to be relevant at all!
I guess we will find out.
In November 2010, Arizona voters approved Proposition 203. Known as the "Arizona Medical Marijuana Act", Prop 203 was what is known as a "voter initiative"- where citizens directly change or add to the laws of the state, bypassing the legislature. A group of people wrote the initiative that they hoped would become law, and collected the required number of petition signatures to put it before the voters. The proposition became statute, and the state prepared to implement it without resistance (unlike the previous two times a MMJ law was approved in AZ). Sounds good, eh? Sick people get their medicine without fear of the law, what could be wrong with that? Plenty, it turns out.
To make a long story short, the initiative was written by folks more interested in enriching themselves than in helping ill people. With a series of clever provisions, they intended to completely control the market. Home growing by the patient, while allowed technically by the new law, would be prohibited in practice by a 25 mile "no grow zone" around every dispensary, and a 2.5 oz possession limit. The 25 mile limit excluded >95% of the population from growing, and the 2.5 oz limit made outside cultivation pointless (unless you only use 2.5 oz for the whole year). For those few that would be approved to grow their own, the 2.5 oz limit would make it much more difficult to grow inside too. Sure, you can have 12 plants of any size, no square foot or watt limit, but you can only possess 2.5 oz of usable herb at a time! If you grew 12 one oz plants, when you harvested you would have to throw out 9.5 oz before it dried, or you would be breaking the law. Expert growers could work out a system that would stagger harvests to keep a steady supply without exceeding the limit, but it would beyond the skills of most. (a patient approved for growing could also process a larger harvest while it was still wet into concentrates, the bud is not usable under the law until dried) The end result is that almost all patients would have to buy their medicine from a dispensary.
While the patient is regulated into reliance on the dispensaries, the dispensaries had almost no limits placed on their activities. They could grow and sell as much as they cared to, at the price they wanted to. Normally this would be fine, as competition between dispensaries would keep the price down, and encourage quality and variety. The authors of the initiative stacked the deck in their interests, however, with a limit on the number of dispensaries that would be allowed. They also encouraged heavy oversight by the state, making start up costs large. These things heavily favored the well funded, and those with experience running a MMJ dispensary (aka the authors of the initiative), in the competition for the limited number of licenses. They would end up virtually monopolizing the whole scene. Patients would be forced to buy from dispensaries, and the authors of the proposition would control the dispensaries, the price, the quality and selection.
It seemed like they had it locked up. Arizona got owned by these guys.
Then, something happened.
The plan relied on the policy of the Federal Government. The Obama Justice Department had said that they would not pursue people who were in compliance with state laws. This was the green light to folks who saw Arizona as a cash cow. The intent was to step in, take control and rake in the cash.
The new development is this: it turns out that what the Obama Justice Department said it would do isn't quite what they are actually doing. They are going after dispensaries and large grows, even if they are following state law to the letter, and even expressed an intent to prosecute state officials who run the programs! Here is a good article on the situation.The State of Arizona is one of the states that has received one of the warning letters mentioned in the article. This is the letter the State of Arizona has received from the US Attorney for the District of Arizona that outlines their position. Anyone planning on growing a large amount, or selling, should pay attention to this quote from the letter: "The United States Attorney for the District of Arizona will continue to VIGOROUSLY PROSECUTE individuals and organizations that participate in unlawful manufacturing, distribution and marketing activity involving marijuana, EVEN IF such activities are permitted under state law." The same letter also says that they have been told by their bosses that "USAOs ought not focus their limited resources on those seriously ill individuals who use marijuana as part of a medically recommended treatment regimen and are in clear and unambiguous compliance with such state laws." and that they would follow that advice and leave the personal user alone.
What if there were NO dispensaries, because the Feds bust anyone that sets one up? Well, ALL the patients would be more than 25 miles from a dispensary and would then qualify to grow their own under state law, but be ignored by the feds.
What if the DHS stopped administering the program, stopped issuing cards, because they were afraid of being prosecuted themselves? The law states that if the DHS fails to do its part, all a patient needs to be legal is the doctor's recommendation!
So it looks like it is possible that the average patient/caregiver will be immune to state prosecution, and ignored by the feds, while the state will be prohibited from implementing any rules/management, and the dispensaries cease to be relevant at all!
I guess we will find out.
