The Green Relief Medical Marijuana Convention and Expo will focus on the law, employer issues, patient rights and dispensary setup and operations at the Renaissance Hotel and Spa in Glendale.

For more info, go to the Green Relief website here.

A snippet from the press release:

The vote that made Medical Marijuana legal in Arizona was so close that it took more than ten days to be officially verified. That was followed by a flurry of city meetings to determine municipal regulations regarding where and when medical marijuana can be sold. Finally, the law enforcement community — taking cues from the federal government, the state of Arizona and local towns and cities — joined the chorus of the confused.

People suffering pain, loss of appetite and/or nausea from a debilitating disease seem to be closer than ever to finding relief from their symptoms through Medical Marijuana — but there are a lot of questions to answer.

Will the Feds turn a blind eye to Glaucoma patients who smoke marijuana? Does a positive drug test equal a negative employment future? Could compassionate pain relief mean harsh punishment? How will doctors and dispensaries deal with the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency)?

Green Relief 2011 will offer a professional forum for the uninitiated, under-informed and reticent potential patients and physicians who may be aware of Medical Marijuana as a potential treatment option, but who otherwise lack the understanding needed to make an educated determination about its appropriateness for their condition.

In addition, the Green Relief 2011 expo floor will offer a dynamic blend of vendors including consultants, delivery system manufacturers, professional services, publications, agriculture, associations and equipment and accessories catering to the Medical Marijuana community. ...

"Since Arizona voters passed Prop 203 in November, businesses have been scrambling to take advantage of the opportunities medical marijuana offers," said Lisa Wolfe, co-founder of Big Truck Media Group. "Green Relief 2011 will bring patients, health care providers as well as business owners together to educate and inform in this rapidly expanding Medical Marijuana marketplace."

Arizonans approved marijuana for medical use previously in 1996. That ballot measure passed with 65 percent of the vote, but never took effect because of its language. The 1996 initiative let patients use marijuana if they had a "prescription from their doctor."

Doctors, however, are not allowed to write "prescriptions" for marijuana because the federal government classifies it as a drug with no medical value. Arizona's new Medical Marijuana Law allows doctors to instead, write a "recommendation" that a patient receive Medical Marijuana rather than a prescription.