Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Report Gives Arizona a Surprisingly High Score for Its Treatment of Medical Marijuana Patients, Access to Weed

Posted By on Tue, Jan 26, 2016 at 4:48 PM


A report that evaluates medical marijuana programs nationwide says Arizona is doing pretty well in protecting the rights of medicinal weed patients, as well as giving patients easy access to their medicine.

However, according to the patient-input-based analysis by the Washington-based nonprofit Americans for Safe Access, Arizona is in the dumps when it comes to product safety rules, meaning regulations, such as comprehensive marijuana testing protocols aren't yet in place.

The nonprofit surprisingly gave the state an overall grade of B-, largely because the report finds that Arizona protects its medical marijuana patients from issues like DUIs and other arrests. In terms of DUIs, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled in November 2015 that medical marijuana patients suspected of driving under the influence must prove that the amount of active THC in their system is not enough to cause impairment—which critics say is quiet harsh.

The analysis also gives the state kudos for having a decent number of dispensaries in place (there are more than 80 throughout), allowing patients to grow their own weed (only people who live more than 25 miles away from a dispensaries have this right), and having reasonable guidelines for qualifying conditions—even though the Arizona Department of Health Services was pressured by a judge to add post-traumatic stress disorder to the Medical Marijuana Act two years ago, and refused to add eight new conditions, which included brain injury and diabetes, last year.

Read the whole report here.

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