The Arizona Department of Health Services announced 31 new dispensary licenses last week, bringing the total number of Arizona dispensaries to 130 a month before Prop 205 appears on the November ballot.
Nearly 750 potential pot purveyors applied for the limited number of licenses back in August in what many consider a lottery. While the AZDHS reviews applications to direct openings in areas closest to high concentrations of medical patients, nine of the 31 applicants were drawn in a literal lottery with each of the nine being tied with two to five other would-be dispensaries.
Each applicant also had to pay a $5,000 application fee, of which $1,000 was refundable. But with Prop 205 on the horizon, those licenses could be worth millions. Still, the AZDHS roped in just over $3 million even after the refund.
Dispensaries are distributed throughout the state in 126 “Community Health Analysis Areas” created by the AZDHS in 2005. Since the legalization of medical marijuana in Arizona, the CHAAs have been used to allocate dispensaries.
An average CHAA contains about 21,500 people, but can range anywhere from 5,000 to 190,000 people. Across the state, each CHAA has anywhere from zero to two dispensaries, though precise locations are not disclosed by the state in adherence with the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act.
Tucson has six CHAAs around the city with five more containing parts of the city. The six main CHAAs are broken up into a central area, north central, east, east central, southeast and southwest and each contains a single dispensary.
The outlying CHAAs are Tucson Northeast and West, Tanque Verde, Continental and San Xavier District. Tucson West and San Xavier District are the only ones without a dispensary.
Tucson’s nine dispensaries correspond with each of the remaining CHAAs.
Of the 31 new dispensary licenses, one is in Tucson Northeast and one is in Tucson East Central. The Tanque Verde CHAA also acquired a second dispensary bringing the total number of Tucson dispensaries up to 12.
The last lottery was held in 2012, a couple years after Prop 203 passed by an infinitesimal .13 percent approving medical marijuana in 2010. The 2012 lottery was the first held for dispensary licenses and awarded 99 licenses from a pool of 484 applicants.
The increase in applicants this year is likely in anticipation of Prop 205 passing, which would open up the market not only to greater demand, but also for about roughly 20 more dispensaries.
Prop 205 would give operating dispensaries, and those currently in possession of licenses, priority over the market, making the last license lottery a battle for big bucks, though the limit on the number of dispensaries allowed will expand after 2021 under the proposed law.
The AZDHS determined which licenses to award based on the locations of the proposed dispensaries to correspond with the greatest demand of medical marijuana patients.
This has resulted in something of a legalized turf war as industry insiders have scrambled to research and model which locations have the greatest chance of obtaining a dispensary license.
While the state no doubt has its reasoning behind distributing dispensaries in such a controlled system, if recreational marijuana becomes a reality, and with a limited supply, we’ll just have to wait and see if the law hits the black market the way many supporters hope it will.
This article appears in Oct 13-19, 2016.
Get a clue it is the “BLACK MARKET” no federal protections and a rouge government to banking and distribution system this is the foundation of redistributed “Black Markets”
We see now with the sheriff’s department see huge pile of cash and it is up to administrators to distribute. The only reason to have this Marijuana regulatory department is to gather and distribute monies while protecting an exclusive industry/government.
What is Marijuana Department of license and controls. what it will be is it’s own government insulated by the AZ constitution and ratified by the voter. It will have basically no oversight in accounting or procedures.
With prop 205 we will soon call Juarez our sister city. I think the producers are putting additives into the pot to dummify the user into this. Since there is no testing standards no oversight these guys are running a muck.
lets look at 205 we can do whatever we want. Since it is a state special amendment to the state constitution.
let’s ask the legislature to step and recognize changes in the state statutes let add them as a subcategory with special address and concerns, to this new found department
What cant have your cake an eat it too. They should not have special state protections with out following state commerce. So they are a special and deserve special legislation let’s give it to them
They can’t incorporate, Strictly sole proprietors. No special protections such as trusts, holding entities and out of state ownership.
All properties holdings and license will be under Arizona law. Since it is federally illegal Arizona will not recognize any entity or person that are not full time residence of Arizona.
All license and property holders must be citizens of the US. Full disclosure of all principal parties of those not more than 25% can be out of state residence or non US citizen.
One person cannot own more than one dispensary and can not be sold to another dispensary agent or parties must be sold on random lottery.
I mean really these guys are not in it for the care and help. It is pure greed at this point. They have allowed ambiguous terms like
“NOT WITH STANDING” to allow Ducey’s Administrator to decide what in Arizona prevails.
I say vote no on 205 allowing for distribution does not allow for a whole rewrite of right to the constitution that only changes enforcement and administrative powers. while increasing the criminal and civil penalties.
Look at the funding for the “No on 205” advertisements. What a basket of deplorables. I say for for 205, just to upset the big money boys.
If funding is the issue why won’t MPP disclose whom their contributors are ? The MPP that got Arizona the mmj law the whole entire board has been replaced. Now Big money industry replaced the entire board. Everyone that sits on the board are from big industry. According Dan Riffle the previous founder and Director of MPP tell the story how big money has taken over MPP.
here is a interview with Dan Riffle in Business Weekly.
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/12/2/9831980/marijuana-legalization-industry-business
The real scary part of all of this is the ignorance and hate. the propels one view big business LMFAO
Which big business are you talking about the one that sets up a police force and court to sell and enforce making money off of pot stating monies from heaven are going to fall for good things ? You been smoking that spice shit huh. yea it will still be illegal.
Just whom do you think was the originator of all the legalize of this travesty of 205? get a clue dummy it was LEO.
There is more legalize back doors called “Notwithstanding” which means basically if anything was in place before.
So if you didn’t like what was going on before you definitely won’t like this.
But hey As long as I got a Bob Marley, Tye Dyed, Birkenstock, tattooed, body pierced liberal, rap, new world order concert to go all is well. I can vap, concentrate, dab, to my heart’s delight screw the medically needy. This is progressive stone and tax hey baby.
How’s that for asking for consideration when first I need to state whom I want their endorsement. And now let’s hear what a republican is ( the most often defined here) and then there is a libertarian. Which slaps the core of both so one want that, It hurts to find I was damaging to myself looking for the boogie man in politics.
There is BIG MONEY to be made in selling DRUGS…as these HYPOCRITE ARIZONA POLITICIANS and their SUPPORTERS well know!!!!
The “Medical Marijuana Program” in Arizona is a Big-Money-Making SCAM supported by the Marijuana Drug Industry and their Supporters in the Arizona Legislature!
Marijuana use for Medical purpose should be supported by Scientific evidence, including Clinical Trials, and regulated by the FDA; closely monitored by the tending Physician and State Department of Health.”Medical Marijuana” should be available by Prescription only (in a Pharmacy) issued by a License Physician.
Francis;
Nothing starts till the feds change the denotation of the plant period.
This has gone beyond a state’s issue it’s a Federal issue. regardless of this years political climate. There are so many hands out wanting tribute to go one way or the other it is sickening.
Proponents and opponents alike are showing the lack of integrity for a fair justice system, a fair administration system.
The root cause of addictive behavior or citizens. We as a whole believe we can control addictive behavior. Medicate if possible, incarcerate when necessary, profile for protection, assemble a enforcement of all addictive behavior. This has been a failure.
To make this work and some are of the conclusive ideals that we license addictive behavior it will pay for and administer itself.
So with this type of progressive thinking which has been tried for millenniums it’s not new. 2500 year old shipwrecks have been found in the Mediterranean off of Greece, the flacks fill with Hash oil.
These early merchants the Carthaginians were the brokers of all products made from the Indica plant. Valuable fine oil, fabrics, hemp weavings.
To protect their market they enlisted a police protection force. These were called Hashins. They became so brutal that the name became over time through all the language transformations to assassin and the leaders of those groups established markets came up with name dialects Hussein.
That is our future if we make a market for so many to profit from. the idea of controlling behavior. Yea it has not worked for thousands it’s been tried. Just wait for the shit storm of troopers rouge courts and no government oversight. We can call this new Department Of Marijuana License and Controls, assassins in waiting just a matter of time.