Things are happening lightning-fast these days on the cannabis front in Arizona, largely because of a deadline for dispensaries to open, and I am a huge fan of that.

Last August, the state held a pingpong ball lottery and issued just shy of 100 dispensary registration certificates. The clock started ticking that day, leaving operators one year to get permission to swing open the doors. Despite a lawsuit that allowed dispensaries more time, all but one met the June 7 deadline to ask for state inspection. (www.azdhs.gov/medicalmarijuana/documents/dispensaries/dispensary-registration-certificate-allocation-results.pdf)

Of 97 applications for inspection received by the state so far, 49 were filed after June 1, and 39 of those came in just under the wire on June 6 or 7. The last-minute flood forced the state to train new inspectors, just in case they need them. Seventeen inspections were scheduled as of July 9.

Also as of last week, 47 dispensaries had been looked at, poked, prodded and eventually authorized to open. We had 35 operating dispensaries across the state, six in Tucson (the latest in town is Desert Bloom Re-Leaf Center, 8060 E. 22nd St., Suite 108). Check it out. I’ll be heading there soon.

The 35 dispensaries cover all of the major population centers in Arizona. More than 90 percent of state residents—about 5.8 million people—live within 25 miles of a dispensary (www.azdhs.gov/medicalmarijuana/documents/dispensaries/dispensary-map.pdf), according to the state Department of Health Services, meaning that when cardholders renew their cards, they’ll no longer be allowed to grow. 🙁

So things are happening.

It’s nice to see that the state has quieted down and started letting, even helping, dispensaries open. It seems most of the resistance from Gov. Jan and Attorney Generalissimo Tom Horne has abated. The return on investment was getting pretty sad for them in the courts. I guess they got the picture, though several lawsuits remain to be adjudicated. Chief among those, IMO, is one concerning the legality of collectives. There are dozens of collectives quietly operating, mostly in the Phoenix area, and they are bravely doing it with a sword poised over their figurative necks.

Stay tuned.

In Other News

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox surfaced in the cannabis news again last week, when he met in San Francisco with famed cannabis advocate and Harborside Health Center operator Steve DeAngelo, former Microsoft manager Jamen Shivley and others to plan a global effort to decriminalize and regulate cannabis.

Fox met with Shivley a few months ago to put his weight behind the former tech geek’s launch of Diego Pellicer, a national brand for marijuana. Now Fox will host the American advocates at the First International Symposium on the Legalization and Medical Use of Marijuana, which is set for July 18 to 20 in Guanajuato, Mexico. The planning meeting last week included representatives from four states and two nations, Shivley said.

“This is very much an international conversation,” he said.

One key goal is to reduce the violence associated with illegal drug cartels. Tens of thousands of people have died in Mexico since the government cracked down on drug cartels in recent years. Fox got involved with U.S. cannabis advocates because of that violence.

“Every day we are losing 40 young people. Every day we’re paying the toll of blood and violence,” Fox said. “The cost of the war is becoming too high—too high for Mexico, too high for Latin America, and too high for the rest of the world.”

Hear, hear.

This article appears in Jul 18-24, 2013.

More fun than FarmVille, more interesting than that Facebook friend you don't really remember from high school.

6 replies on “Deadline Deluge”

  1. Of course you are a huge fan of the legal drug cartels (dispensaries). The only problem Mr. Smith is these dispensaries are not LEGAL under the federal law (Controlled Substances Act) and have no safe harbor for the people that work there and own them. In fact these dispensaries in Arizona will be raided shortly and all of these people are facing Class 2 felonies (which is the most serious felony in Arizona). Dispensaries are in the business of dispensing and selling drugs and in this case only agencies possessing a DEA license (i.e. Oxford University pot farm) can even touch Schedule I drugs. Look it up and Eric Holder, Tom Horne, Barbara LaWall, Will Humble, all the attorney’s in Arizona will tell you that the dispensaries are going to be hit very soon and the minimum sentencing for people engaged in selling drugs (first time offenders) is 5 – 10 years in prison do not pass go, do not collect your $200. Phoenix and Tucson dispensaries are going down and the paperwork is just getting coordinated so let your dispensary friends know they are going to be arrested and charged with Schedule II offenses and the patients/caregivers are under a 2811 Shield (Affirmative Defense) and they have safe harbor (per Tom Horne’s Attorney General Opinion issued August 8, 2012).

  2. Remember prohibition? That didn’t work either. The federal government is far, far behind the times. The states know a cash cow when they see one. To put Marijuana in the same class as Heroin is like saying alcohol is comparable to water. Really? Look at statistics moron, there are more accidents and deaths related to alcohol than weed. As a matter of fact, when was the last time you heard of a pot related accident or death. I’ll bet you ‘re one of those that sit home with your cocktail in one hand and your prescription medication in the other.

  3. COUNTER NARCOTICS ALLIANCE CONDUCTING ILLEGAL RAIDS
    “2811 Shield” Protects Medical Marijuana Cardholders

    TUCSON, ARIZONA – After almost three years of illegally kicking in doors and busting the homes apart of legal, licensed medical marijuana cardholders, it has come to the attention of the Pima County Attorney’s Office that these Counter Narcotics Alliance (CNA) raids are illegal.

    A.R.S. 36-28, the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, has a chapter in it, 2811, which specifically states that cardholders are not subject to criminal investigation, arrest, property seizure or forfeiture, or prosecution for cultivating and using cannabis if licensed by Arizona Department of Health Services (AZDHS) to do so.

    Apparently, nobody had bothered to read the law.

    Medical marijuana cardholder and pro per defendant Paula Huff was trying to figure out just how, despite being diligent to stay within the bounds of the law, her home was raided and she was dragged outside naked and tortured on her porch for an hour and a half in front of all her neighbors by CNA officers who were perhaps just a bit too bonered up for a drug bust. This is no exaggerations, folks. Huff’s neighbors, upon witnessing the naked porch torture, actually called the cops on the cops, sparking a Tucson Police Department Internal Affairs investigation. But that’s a whole other article for later.

    One thing Huff wanted to find out was whether the cops involved in the raid on her home were even trained in the laws they thought they were enforcing. And it turns out they aren’t.

    During Huff’s investigation into the nature and cause of the CNA raid, it was revealed that instead of real, actual, legal POST training in the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, all the Counter Narcotics Alliance got was a PowerPoint presenation produced by Phoenix Police Department.

    Upon conclusion of the first four police officer interrogations, it became apparent that CNA officers may not even have watched Phoenix PD’s PowerPoint presentation. When asked questions taken directly from the PowerPoint training materials, not a single CNA officer gave a single correct answer.

    When asked whether law enforcement officers enforce medical marijuana laws, every police officer stated that yes, they do enforce medical marijuana laws, and even go so far as to do unwarranted searches of cardholders’ homes to check for compliance with medical marijuana laws. It should be noted that several slides in the PowerPoint presentation are dedicated to the 2811 shield, and one slide has nothing but YOU DO NOT ENFORCE THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA ACT right in the middle of the page.

    The slides dedicated to the 2811 shield even have pictures on them to help the police officers to understand the concept. Despite a whole slide with nothing on it but a statement that cops don’t enforce marijuana laws, and several more slides with pictures on them, none of the cops interrogated at the Pima County Attorney’s Officer by Paula Huff were able to answer questions related to the 2811 shield correctly, and in fact confessed to committing crimes by conducting unwarranted searches and seizures, and arresting law-abiding, taxpaying medical marijuana cardholders under Title 13.

    What does this mean if the cops are beating on your door? Well, the magic words in that case are, “I am a valid medical marijuana cardholder, I am not opening my door for you or leaving my home, and I am protected under the 2811 shield, so take your SWAT team and guns and armor and go home!”

    If you are currently being prosecuted for Title 13 marijuana crimes when you had a valid medical marijuana card, then you need to file a motion to dismiss due to 2811 shield law. Read A.R.S. Title 36 Section 28 Chapter 11, and quote that directly in your motion, and your case should be tossed out posthaste, your property should be returned or you should be compensated for it, and everyone should be able to get back to living a life free of hassles and intrusion by an overzealous army of Arizona cops.
    Robert Clark
    Patient Advocate Group

  4. stop the lies!,,,way past time to legalize!,,,,sign a petition today to stop the unjust persecution of cannabis users!,,,,,cannabis is safer than alcolhol!,,,,,legalize in 2014!,,,

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