Arizona's medical marijuana bill pretty much sucks because it only legalizes pot for very, very, very sick people. It's not like California where you can get medical marijuana for a headache or a busted toe nail. But still it is great the law passed because it is a step in the right direction.

The "War on Drugs" is a war on the Constitution and a war on the American People and it's nice to see the beginning of the end of that war. The "War on Drugs" is also a huge jobs program for overpaid police officers who use the war on drugs to steal our money and micro-manage our lives.

When these elections are held that attempt to either reduce the American police state or expand the American police state police officers along with prison guards, prosecutors and other government employees who benefit from the American Police state can often easily swing the election when all of them get out and vote. And they do vote because it means money in their wallets when these laws that expand the police state pass.

I don't think this is a conspiracy but simply when these votes are held police officers, prison guards, prosecutors, judges and other government employees benefit from them because they create more jobs for police officers, prison guards, prosecutors and judges.

Here is a quick and dirty count of how many police jobs exist in Arizona and how much they would have influenced the election if they all came out and voted against Prop 203.

FIGURE OUT WHERE TO PUT THIS!!!!!!! From this article it sounds like as of 2010 there are almost 20,000 active Arizona police officers and another 9,000 retired Arizona police officers. According to this article there are 363,000 state and local government employees in Arizona? I don't think they vote in sync like police employees do but they certainly call swing elections if a lot of them have the same interests. A good example of that is this article, which says they probably all will vote against repealing the nice pension benefits they get. FIGURE OUT WHERE TO PUT THIS!!!!!!! In this excel spread sheet as of November 2010 there appears to be 15472 active police officers in the State of Arizona that work for the state of Arizona and all the counties, cities and other government entities that are part of the state of Arizona. This does not include Federal police officers.

I got this spreadsheet from Chester Szoltysik chesters@azpost.gov who works for AZPOST which is the government agency that regulates police officers in Arizona. Chester Szoltysik can be found at:

Chester M. Szoltysik M.B.A.
Technology Manager
State of Arizona
Peace Officer Standards and Training Board
2643 East University Drive
Phoenix, AZ 85034-6914
602.223.2514 x210
Fax 602.244.0477
www.azpost.gov

Source

Arizona pot measure pulls ahead by 4,421 votes

by Bob Christie - Nov. 12, 2010 07:57 PM

Associated Press

A measure that would legalize medical marijuana in Arizona pulled ahead for the first time Friday, with both supporters and opponents saying they believed the proposal that went before voters on Election Day would pass.

Proposition 203 was ahead by 4,421 votes out of more than 1.63 million votes counted. The measure started out losing by about 7,200 votes on Nov. 2 and the gap gradually narrowed in the following 10 days.

Only about 10,000 early and provisional ballots remain to be counted in the state, and all are in Maricopa County.

If the measure passes, Arizona would be the 15th state with a medical marijuana law.

"We were optimistic that this is what the result was going to be today, and we're thrilled that it came to reality," said Andrew Myers, campaign manager for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project. "Moving forward it's our responsibility to help implement a program that Arizona can be proud of."

Opponents of the initiative, including all Arizona's sheriff's and county prosecutors, the governor, attorney general, and many other politicians, came out against the proposed law.

"All of the political leaders came out and warned Arizonans that this was going to have very dire effects on a number of levels," said Carolyn Short, chairwoman of Keep AZ Drug Free, the group that organized opposition to the initiative. "I don't think that all Arizonans have heard those dire predictions.

"Election night and this entire week has been a very exciting time for us -- we just didn't know we had actually lost," Short said. "I am incredibly proud of our small but dedicated army of volunteers who worked very, very hard for months to educate voters about Prop 203."

Backers of Proposition 203 argued that thousands of patients faced "a terrible choice" of suffering with a serious or even terminal illness or going to the criminal market for pot. They collected more than 252,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot -- nearly 100,000 more than required.

The measure will allow patients with diseases including cancer, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C and any other "chronic or debilitating" disease that meets guidelines to buy more 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks or grow plants.

The patients must get a recommendation from their doctor and register with the Arizona Department of Health Services. The law also allows for no more than 124 marijuana dispensaries in the state.

"Our law is written to be incredibly restrictive. We're talking only about seriously or terminally ill patients," Myers said. "There are 14 medical marijuana states, and for political reasons they decided to narrow in on (problems in) California because they don't believe that marijuana is medicine at all."

The measure began Friday losing by about 1,500 votes.

The vast majority of outstanding votes were in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, on Friday morning. About 30,000 provisional ballots during the day, and those went heavily for medical marijuana backers. The county also processed 5,024 early ballots.

Maricopa County has 8,000 early and 2,000 provisional ballots still to count, and all other counties have finished their counts. Outstanding ballots will be counted through the weekend despite a state law that generally says all vote tallying must be completed by Friday.

Teams made up of members of the Republican and Democratic parties are overseeing elections workers tasked with reviewing the early ballot. Those ballots have some problem that prevents a vote-count machine from tallying them, typically because a voter used a marker to fill in the oval and it bled through to the other side or otherwise is unreadable.

The teams are examining the ballots, determining voter intent and filling out new ballots that the machine can read, Purcell said.

Source

Marijuana ballot measure nears approval

Posted: Friday, November 12, 2010 9:02 pm

Howard Fischer ,Capitol Media Services

Arizona appears on the verge of finally getting a law that will allow patients to obtain marijuana legally.

Figures released late Friday show Proposition 203 ahead by 4,421 votes out of more than 1.6 million cast.

Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell, whose office has the last of the ballots to be counted, told Capitol Media Services she has only about 10,000 ballots yet to be tallied.

That includes about 2,000 provisional ballots, largely those which were cast by voters at the polls on election day by people who had previously requested and been mailed an early ballot. Purcell said her office needs to make sure they had not voted twice.

Purcell noted the trend in the provisional ballots has been running close to 2-1 in favor of the measure.

That leaves just 8,000 early ballots from voters who over-inked their marks, resulting in a bleed-through to the other side of the paper.

Among early Maricopa voters, the measure is losing by a 48-52 percent margin. And County Elections Director Karen Osborne said the last of these early ballots being counted are running virtually the same as those already tallied.

If that pattern holds, there would be fewer than 4,200 additional votes against the measure and more than 3,800 in favor, making it virtually impossible to bridge that 4,421-vote edge plus any others added to that from the remaining provisional ballots.

Among Maricopa County voters who went to the polls on election day, the "no'' votes exceeded those in favor. But all of those ballots already have been counted.

Proposition 203 actually won in only Pima, Coconino and Santa Cruz counties. But the big margin of victory in Pima -- by more than 43,000 votes out of nearly 306,000 cast -- was enough to cancel out opposition elsewhere, especially with the measure losing overall in Maricopa County by fewer than 4,000 votes.

Carolyn Short, who chairs Keep AZ Drug Free, said it could have been worse.

"We were predicted to lose by a landslide,'' she said. And Short said foes could have killed the measure if they had more time and more money.

Overall, she said opponents had less than $20,000. By contrast, supporters had spent close to $740,000 by mid-October, the last report available, though the lion's share of that was to hire paid circulators to get the measure on the ballot.

Assuming the final vote tally holds, nothing will change immediately. The measure gives state health officials 120 days after the effective date of the law -- when the results are certified -- to set up the procedures. That puts the likely start of the system in late February.

This is actually the third time Arizona voters have approved a law allowing doctors to give them the legal go-ahead to obtain marijuana.

An initiative approved in 1996 and re-ratified two years later allowing doctors to prescribe otherwise illegal drugs to patients never took effect. That's because the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency threatened to revoke the prescription-writing privileges of any physician who wrote such an order.

This year's version got around that problem by saying a patient needs only a written "recommendation'' by a doctor, a model copied from successful medical marijuana measures in other states. And the Obama administration has said it does not intend to bring federal drug charges against patients in states with medical marijuana laws.

The vote is a defeat for county prosecutors and sheriffs who lined up against the measure, as did Gov. Jan Brewer. It also comes over the concerns expressed by state Health Director Will Humble who said he fears the measure will lead to abuse, as it has in other states.

But Andrew Myers, the campaign director for Proposition 203, said this initiative is different.

"We've been talking throughout this entire campaign about what this industry needs to look like and how we want to be a model for the rest of the country,'' he said. Myers said it was crafted "so it doesn't create the kind of problems we've experienced in places like California and Colorado.''

California in particular has been a poster child for those arguing against the measure.

The law there allows doctors to recommend marijuana for not only cancer, AIDS, glaucoma and migraines but for "any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.'' That, in turn, has created a cottage industry of walk-in doctors and dispensaries who provide the necessary certification.

By contrast, the Arizona law has a specific list of conditions which would let a doctor write a recommendation. And the number of dispensaries is limited to one for every 10 pharmacies around the state, a figure that currently computes out to about 125.

Short, however, said people were willing to vote for the measure because they "didn't know about it.''

"Many, many Arizonans are simply not fully informed,'' she said.

She also said that the Marijuana Policy Project, which financed the Arizona campaign, has had more than a dozen years to perfect its campaign in other states before bringing the issue to Arizona.

Matthew Benson, press aide to Secretary of State Ken Bennett, said only Maricopa County has outstanding provisional and early ballots.

The only thing left after that, he said, are some ballots with write-in candidates. But Benson said that won't affect the initiative because there is no write-in option on the yes-no question.

Source

Proposition 203 passes; medical marijuana approved

Voters have approved Proposition 203, Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, the Associated Press announced today. The "yes" vote won by 4,341 votes.

The "yes" vote gained significant lead yesterday, surpassing the "no" vote for the first time. As of Friday night, the "yes" vote was up by 4,421.

Maricopa County still had about 10,000 early and provisional ballots left to count last night. Election officials tabulated 11,814 ballots today and finished tabulating, Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell announced in a news release today.

The official general election canvass will be held on Nov. 29, when Prop. 203 will go into effect. The Arizona Department of Health Services has 120 days from that day to finalize all rules for implementation. The department is expected to begin reviewing dispensary and patient applications early April.

-- Michelle Ye He Lee

Source

Sigue sin saberse si será la marihuana legal

Phoenix, Arizona

por Eduardo Bernal - Nov. 12, 2010 10:54 AM

La Voz

Con la única iniciativa sin resultado final, de las 10 que se incluyeron en las urnas electorales el pasado 2 de noviembre, y a pesar de que la mayoría de las boletas ya fueron contadas, la Propuesta 203 -que busca legalizar la Marihuana para su uso medicinal-, aun tiene esperanza de ser aprobada aunque necesita superar los más de 3 mil votos que tiene en su contra.

La mayoría del electorado en 15 condados de Arizona votó en contra de esta iniciativa; sin embargo, los Condados Coconino, Santa Cruz y Pima la favorecieron por mayoría.

"La gente apoya la idea de legalizar la marihuana para su consumo medicinal, los a favor están reaccionando ante la oposición", explicó Andrews Myers, vocero de la organización Arizona Medical Marihuana Policy Project.

Según Myers, los que se oponen a esta iniciativa provocaron miedo al decir que de ser aprobada pasaría lo mismo que en California donde las regulaciones para obtener marihuana medicinal son menos estrictas y el número de licencias para prescribir marihuana es de mil solamente en el Condado Los Ángeles.

"Mucha gente no sabe que en nuestro estado las regulaciones serían más estrictas, para empezar solamente se emitirían 124 licencias en todo el estado y el proceso para seleccionar cuáles doctores aplican y reúnen los requisitos de ética van a ser más estrictos", explica Myers.

Asimismo, indicó que el electorado no prestó atención a lo que realmente significa la proposición y que el miedo a que esta iniciativa se preste para abusos fue más fuerte que la evidencia de cómo estaría regulada.

La Proposición 203 busca enmendar la Constitución del estado al legalizar la marihuana para su consumo medicinal y permitiendo a los pacientes de condiciones como esclerosis múltiple, cáncer y sida, comprar, poseer y usar hasta 2.5 onzas de marihuana cada dos semanas con la recomendación de un doctor.

La iniciativa fue rechazada por la mayoría del electorado en el Condado Maricopa aunque aún existen votos tempranos y boletas provisionales que no han sido contadas.

Entre las entidades y funcionarios públicos que se pronunciaron en contra de la iniciativa se encuentran el Departamento de Servicios de Salud de Arizona, el Center for Arizona Policy, la gobernadora Jan Brewer, Barbara LaWall, procuradora del Condado Pima, al igual que los procuradores de los condados Apache, Cochise, La Paz, Navajo, Yavapai y Yuma; asimismo, alguaciles de varios condados, firmaron una carta oponiéndose a esta medida.

"Casi todas las recomendaciones para el uso de la marihuana viene de muy pocos doctores quienes, por ejemplo, podrían prescribirla por 150 dólares a cualquiera", explicó la gobernadora a un medio de comunicación local y argumentó a su vez que fácilmente esta medida que aparenta ser compasiva hacia los pacientes, puede convertirse en una cuestión de lucro.

Heather Torgerson, miembro de la campaña de Arizona Medical Marihuana Policy Project y quien es una paciente de cáncer cerebral, explica que muchos pacientes con enfermedades terminales o cuyos tratamientos son debilitantes se han beneficiado con este tratamiento y que con la aprobación de esta iniciativa no estarían sujetos a sanciones o incluso cargos que los pueden llevar a la cárcel.

"No merecemos ser encarcelados por consumir marihuana como tratamiento para nuestras enfermedades", dijo Torgerson. "Pacientes como yo se beneficiarían de acceso seguro y confiable a nuestra medicina que nos ayude a sobrellevar los tratamientos a veces agresivos contra las enfermedades terminales", añadió.

El conteo de los votos aún continúa con las cifras cerrando la brecha entre la aprobación o el rechazo de esta iniciativa y el plazo para llegar a un resultado final es el viernes 12 de noviembre.

Según Myers, si la propuesta es rechazada, se buscaría reintroducirla para votación en las elecciones del 2012.

Contacte al reportero: edward.bernal@lavozarizona.com

Source

Nov. 13, 2010 8:10 PM ET

Voters approve Arizona medical marijuana measure

BOB CHRISTIEBOB CHRISTIE, Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona voters have approved a measure that will legalize medical marijuana use in the state for people with chronic or debilitating diseases.

Final vote tallies showed Saturday that Proposition 203 won by a tiny margin of just 4,341 votes out of more than 1.67 million votes counted. The measure had started out losing on Election Day by about 7,200 votes, but the gap gradually narrowed in the following 10 days.

"Now begins the very hard work of implementing this program in the way it was envisioned, with very high standards," said Andrew Myers, campaign manager for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project. "We really believe that we have an opportunity to set an example to the rest of the country on what a good medical marijuana program looks like."

Arizona is the 15th state to approve a medical marijuana law. California was the first in 1996, and 13 other states and Washington, D.C., have since followed suit.

The Arizona measure will allow patients with diseases including cancer, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C and any other "chronic or debilitating" disease that meets guidelines to buy 2½ ounces of marijuana every two weeks or grow plants.

The patients must get a recommendation from their doctor and register with the Arizona Department of Health Services. The law allows for no more than 124 marijuana dispensaries in the state.

Backers of Proposition 203 have argued that thousands of patients faced "a terrible choice" of suffering with a serious or even terminal illness or going to the criminal market for pot. They collected more than 252,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot — nearly 100,000 more than required.

All Arizona's sheriff's and county prosecutors, the governor, attorney general and many other politicians came out against the proposed law.

Carolyn Short, chairwoman of Keep AZ Drug Free, the group that organized opposition to the initiative, said her group believes the proposed law will increase crime around dispensary locations, lead to more people driving while impaired and eventually lead to legalized pot for everyone.

She noted that the major financial backer of the new measure, the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project, makes no bones about its ultimate goal: national legalization of marijuana for everyone.

"All of the political leaders came out and warned Arizonans that this was going to have very dire effects on a number of levels," Short said after the measure pulled into the lead late on Friday. "I don't think that all Arizonans have heard those dire predictions."

Arizona voters overwhelmingly approved a medical marijuana law in 1996 and 1998, but it never went into effect because of problems with its wording. Then in 2002, voters rejected a sweeping initiative that would have decriminalized possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana for any user and required state police to hand out the drug to seriously ill people.

The measure that went before voters this month began Friday losing by about 1,500 votes, then surged ahead by 4,421 votes.

Maricopa was the only Arizona county with ballots still outstanding on Saturday. The county finished counting all the remaining provisional and early ballots by late in the afternoon.

The final, unofficial count was 841,346 in favor of the measure and 837,005 opposed. Associated Press

Will the government tyrants in Arizona use this as a lame excuse to nullify the Prop 203 medical marijuana law?

Patricia Sallen at the State Bar of Arizona, said a lawyer cannot help a client in conduct that the lawyer knows is criminal. In this case, federal law [makes] marijuana illegal.

Source

Medical pot wins over Arizona voters; what now?

by Amanda Lee Myers - Nov. 15, 2010 01:10 PM

Associated Press

Voter approval of a ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana in Arizona is just the beginning of getting pot to patients dealing with severe, persistent pain.

Now, the state Department of Health Services must come up with formal regulations to determine who can get medical marijuana and who can sell it.

After ballots are canvassed Nov. 29, the state has four months before the law goes into effect. Teams of workers will work to make sure the rules are in place by April, the health department said Monday.

News of voter approval came Saturday as somewhat of a surprise because the measure was losing by 7,200 votes on Election Day. The gap gradually narrowed until provisional ballots pushed it over the top.

The measure won by just 4,341 votes after more than 1.67 million ballots were counted.

The health department plans to post an initial informal draft of its regulatory rules on Dec. 17 followed by a public comment period. People can weigh in on the draft electronically or in person at three public meetings in February.

The department then will post the final rules March 28 and expects to accept the first applications for medical marijuana cards and dispensaries in early April.

"Between now and April is the really heavy lifting," department Director Will Humble said in a video addressing the public about the measure. He was expected to hold a news conference later Monday about implementing the law.

The 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 plants.

Patients must get a recommendation from their doctor and register with the department. Dispensaries will be required to register with the health department after filing an application and paying a fee. No more than 124 dispensaries would be allowed in the state. The law has other groups preparing as well.

Patricia Sallen, director of special services and ethics at the State Bar of Arizona, said her group is grappling with a rule issued by the Arizona Supreme Court that says a lawyer cannot help a client in conduct that the lawyer knows is criminal.

In this case, federal law trumps Arizona's measure, and marijuana technically is still illegal. "It really raises issues for licensed professionals that a lot of people wouldn't have thought about," she said. [ "federal law trumps Arizona's measure, and marijuana technically is still illegal" - Many freedom fighting lawyers say that is a bunch of BS and that the 10 Amendment of the Bill of Rights says in this case Arizona's laws trumps Federal law. The Tenth Amendment reads

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

She and the bar's ethics committee are working to eventually issue an opinion advising lawyers who may get inquiries from dispensaries seeking legal advise.

Arizona is now the 15th state to approve a medical marijuana law. California was the first in 1996.

Arizona voters overwhelmingly approved a medical marijuana law in 1996 and 1998, but wording conflicted with federal law, blocking its enactment. [ Not exactly! The Feds said that if any doctor wrote a prescription as required by Arizona's 1996 law that the Feds would revoked the doctors license to prescribe drugs, which is what shut down the law. Because of that medical marijuana laws in all states since then have required a doctors "recommendation" instead of a "prescription" to prevent the Feds from undermining the laws. ] In 2002, voters rejected a sweeping initiative that would have decriminalized possession of up to two ounces of marijuana for any user and required state police to hand out the drug to seriously ill people.

It sounds like the government tyrants are doing everything they can to make it difficult for people to get medical marijuana. And it's only been one businesses day since the results of the election were known!

Source

Medical marijuana wins over voters - what now?

Posted: Monday, November 15, 2010 3:43 pm

Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services

Would-be patients hoping to get some medical marijuana now that voters have approved the law should not hold their breath.

Theoretically, he said, that should allow doctors to begin writing the legally required recommendations for patients in early April. But Humble said they may not have any place to purchase their drugs, at least not legally.

At the end of that 120 days, Humble said his agency has to start reviewing what he expects to be hundreds of applications by groups that want to operate one or more of the marijuana dispensaries around the state. And, by law, he’s currently allowed to give permits to only 125 of them.

Humble said he probably will screen each of the applications to check their plans for operations and security and award the licenses to only the most qualified. The alternative, he said, is a simple lottery process — something he does not favor.

Even that, however, doesn’t get the process started: He said each dispensary needs time to get up and running.

“And remember, they’ve got to get their cultivation facility up and running so they have an inventory that’s legitimate,’’ he said.

“I don’t want this to be inventory that comes off the street or from Mexico or something,’’ Humble said. “This has got to be from cultivation facilities inside the state.’’ [What's wrong with marijuana from Mexico or other states? I'm sure it gives people the same buzz that Arizona marijuana does!]

He figures it could be sometime next summer, if not the fall of 2011, before the plants are legally grown, harvested and ready for sale. [Government jerks! Making sick people wait a year to get their medical marijuana! But what do you expect when you get government nannies involved?]

But Andrew Myers, the campaign manager for Prop. 203, said patients may not have to wait that long. He said the measure allows those who are at least 25 miles from a state-regulated dispensary to do their own cultivation.

“Patients will be given I.D. cards before dispensaries will be licensed,’’ he said. “So, at the outset, the first batch of patients are all going to be able to grow, for a year, until their renewal comes up.’’

Humble, though, said he’s still researching that question.

More complex, he said, will be everything else to make the system work. Humble said there needs to be a secure computer system to track the drugs and the users. [Gee the government tyrants can only come up with roadblocks to slow this thing down. Don't they care about sick patients?]

On the front end, he said there needs to be an inventory system to ensure that everything that starts out as seeds in a legal cultivation facility winds up being sold through a legal dispensary, and only to a legitimate cardholder. [Again you let government bureaucrats run things and all they do is come up with roadblocks to slow down things]

“That’s not as simple as it might sound on the surface,’’ he said.

“When they grow the plants, they weight different amounts at different times,’’ Humble said.

“And there’s a drying period,’’ he continued. “So part of that weight was water weight.’’

He said dispensaries need round-the-clock access to the database of patients who have state-issued cards to verify that person is entitled to purchase marijuana. More to the point, the system will keep cardholders from buying more than 2 1/2 ounces every two weeks, the limit in the new law.

Finally, law enforcement needs the same access to determine whether the person they stopped is entitled to have that bag of marijuana. [Gee what's wrong with the current system. If a person has a prescription for a drug that is all that's needed now! The pigs can call the doctor and versify the prescription is valid. Why won't that work with medical marijuana!]

Of greater concern, Humble said, is keeping some doctors from becoming the kind of “recommendation mills’’ he said have popped up in Colorado. The health director said he wants to spell out what sort of doctor-patient relationship has to exist before a physician can write such a recommendation. [Again more roadblocks from the government nannies!]

“If we have a loose interpretation of what a doctor-patient relationship is ... then you could end up with situations like they have in Colorado where folks are walking into a doctor’s office for a 15-minute appointment and $150 bucks on the barrel head, they’re walking away with a recommendation,’’ Humble said.

At the very least, Humble said, he wants some assurance that doctors have discussed alternative to marijuana for their patients, particularly those who say they need the drug for “severe and chronic pain,’’ one of the conditions that lets a doctor write a recommendation. He said that should include biofeedback and acupuncture, where there is peer-reviewed evidence both actually work. [Again why on earth does the government need to butt into the relationship of a doctor and patient? Again more roadblocks from the government nannies!]

“Chronic pain is very difficult to measure,’’ Humble said, which is one reason he opposed the initiative in the first place. And that, he said, provides an opportunity for abuse. [OK jerk! Do you want to make people prove they have a headache before they use aspirin? You know somebody might abuse aspirin too!]

In Colorado, he said, more than 90 percent of cardholders get them for chronic pain.

“The majority of those cardholders are guys in their 20s and 30s,’’ Humble said.

“I’m not saying none of them are in chronic pain,’’ he continued. But Humble said that condition becomes a “gateway’’ into Colorado’s system.

“I want to make sure we have some checks and balances in the system ... to make sure they are in a true doctor relationship, that they’ve truly evaluated that patient, that they truly think marijuana is the mechanism that they want to use for managing that patient, and they’ve talked with that patient about the various alternative treatments that they may have access to,’’ he said. [Translation - I want to make it as difficult as possible for patients to get medical marijuana!]

Arizona State Health Director Will Humble

Source

Q&A with state health director on medical marijuana

Posted: Monday, November 15, 2010 4:25 pm

Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services

State Health Director Will Humble answers questions about the new medical marijuana law.

Q: When will patients who have a qualifying medical condition be able to get the necessary ID cards allowing them to possess marijuana?

A: Probably in early April, after the state issues the rules that doctors have to follow, and sets up the tracking system. [Four months to get a medical marijuana card? That's insane! Or perhaps better said that's government as usual!]

Q: When will they be able to buy marijuana from a state-regulated dispensary?

A: That system won’t be in place until next summer or fall. [Any high school kid can go to his high school today and buy a bag of weed today! Why on earth is it going to take the government 7 months to a year to allow medical marijuana sales?]

Q: What about growing your own?

A: The law allows that for those at least 25 miles from any dispensary. People anywhere in Arizona who get their cards before there are any dispensaries may also qualify.

Q: What will be tracked?

A: The state will have a database of every cultivation facility, every dispensary and every person who is issued a card by the Department of Health Services.

Q: Who will have access to that information?

A: Dispensaries will be able to get real-time verification that someone has a card. And law enforcement will be able to link to a state computer to determine whether someone they stop is legally allowed to possess marijuana.

Q: Will that information be public?

A: No, though the U.S. Drug Enforcement agency probably could subpoena the records if it wanted, as federal law still makes possession and sale of marijuana illegal. [Hmmm ... why did the people who wrote the law allow this?]

Q: What about driving?

A: The law still makes it illegal to drive under the influence, though Humble said it will be up to law enforcement to determine exactly what that constitutes. There is no test similar to alcohol to determine a specific level of impairment.

Q: What about on-the-job drug testing?

A: Anyone with a state-issued card cannot be fired or disciplined solely because a drug test turns up positive for marijuana. That, however, does not cover those who smoke on the job or are impaired.

Q: Where can people smoke?

A: The law prohibits smoking in “public places,’’ but does not define that. As a starting point, Humble said he will use the tobacco laws — meaning no bars, restaurants and other enclosed public places. Not yet decided is whether smoking marijuana will be allowed in public places that are outdoors, such as parks.

Q: What kind of doctors will be allowed to write recommendations?

A: The law limits it to medical doctors, osteopaths, homeopaths and naturopaths.

Q: Will there be oversight of doctors?

A: Humble said he wants rules that define a doctor-patient relationship so physicians don’t just go in the business of writing recommendations for anyone who comes in the door.

Q: Can a dispensary have a doctor on site or on staff to write a recommendation?

A: There is no prohibition to that in the law. But Humble said the rules about relationships should prevent abuse.

Q: How many dispensaries will be established?

A: The law allows one for every 10 pharmacies, which Humble figures now computes out to about 125, with a requirement for at least one dispensary in each county.

Q: Can pharmacies sell the drug?

A: Humble said if they meet the other requirements of Proposition 203 they can be licensed as a dispensary. But being a pharmacy, by itself, does not qualify. [Again this is because the law is very poorly written. It should have allowed any pharmacy to sell medical marijuana]

Q: What keeps cultivation facilities from selling some product off the books?

A: Humble said he wants some way to track plants from seed through cultivation, drying, transfer to a dispensary and, ultimately, sale.

Q: Will card holders from other states be able to purchase marijuana in Arizona?

A: Humble said that is still being researched.