Please comment on Arizona's draft medical marijuana rules before January 7
Published: December 28, 2010
On December 17, 2010, the Arizona Department of Health
Services (DHS) released draft rules for Arizona’s newly created Medical
Marijuana Program. At 47 pages, these rules appear to be comprehensive and
well thought out, and generally track Prop
203, Arizona’s new medical marijuana law, closely. The Department of Health
Services Director, Will Humble, has asked
all Arizonans to weigh in and comment on the draft rules.
Please take a closer look at the draft
rules and then submit a
public comment, praising the effective rules, while politely asking DHS to
change the more problematic sections. You have until January 7 to submit your
comments in this round, and there will be another round of public comments in
February 2011. For more information, please see the DHS site.
In November, Prop 203, MPP's Arizona medical marijuana
initiative became the only statewide
marijuana-related initiative to pass in any state this year, winning by just
4,341 votes out of 1.67 million ballots counted. The law went into effect on
December 14, and will allow patients with debilitating medical conditions to
register to buy 2.5 ounces of marijuana every two weeks at a dispensary or grow
12 plants themselves if they live 25 miles from a dispensary.
Check out our four-pager on the Arizona regulations and take
note of the following provisions in your review and comments:
* A
patient must pay $150 each year for an identification card, and a
designated caregiver, $200. There does not appear to be a sliding scale or
lower cost card available for low-income patients, as most other states
have. We suggest reducing the fee for patients receiving SSI, SSDI,
or Medicaid benefits.
* A dispensary may provide only 30% of its
cultivated marijuana to other registered dispensaries and may acquire only
30% of its own marijuana supply from other registered dispensaries. This
is very problematic and not in the best interests of patients, as it will
likely create acute shortages in rural areas and drive costs up. Those
patients within 25 miles of a rural dispensary unable to meet demand will
have no secondary option for safe access to their medicine. Please submit
comments asking DHS to create an open wholesale relationship between
dispensaries. This will assure consistent supply to rural Arizona, easy
access for all qualifying patients, and lower costs due to increased
competition of organizations trying to meet demand.
* A
patient’s Arizona physician must either 1) have been treating that patient
for the debilitating medical condition for at least a year that included
at least four visits, or 2) have taken primary responsibility for the care
of the debilitating medical condition after compiling a medical history,
conducting a comprehensive exam, and reviewing medical records. This
provision is stricter than in most of the medical marijuana states, but
does not appear designed to prevent a seriously ill patient with a demonstrable
debilitating medical condition from getting a written certification. It
may make it impossible for some veterans to qualify, because Veterans
Administration Hospital doctors do not issue recommendations.
According to a recent Washington
Post article, Director Humble
believes the draft rules will reduce earlier first year estimates of Arizona
qualifying patients from 100,000 people to 20,000 people. The rules should be
finalized by April 15, and patients should begin to receive their
identification cards by early May.
Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. We
are excited to continue our success in working with Arizonans to make sure the
rules implement the letter and spirit of the law. Please participate in shaping
your medical marijuana program by submitting a public comment.
Please also pass this message on to your friends and family to let them know as
well.
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