Arizona Department of Health Services Director Will Humble announced he plans to step down on March 3.

Humble gave Gov. Doug Ducey his resignation on Friday, Feb. 13.

The director was front and center in the implementation of the state’s voter-approved medical marijuana program, and while some marijuana advocates feel Humble did little to speed up the program steeped in bureaucracy, there’s more concern about who Ducey will pick to fill Humble’s shoes.

Humble said in a letter he posted on his director’s blog that he started working for the department in 1992 doing risk assessment for state superfund sites. He became director in 2009. He never mentions medical marijuana in his online farewell.

“We’ve made tremendous progress in so many areas. Accomplishments that change and save lives every day in Arizona. From making it more convenient and quick to get a birth certificate, to saving hundreds of lives a year with our cardiac arrest initiatives, to overhauling our healthcare institution and childcare licensing programs, to building a behavioral health system focused on measurable outcomes, and literally hundreds of other system improvements- we have a lot to be proud of.  And we had fun along the way,” he wrote.

Last year, Humble was named in two medical marijuana law lawsuits. One related to those diagnosed with post-traumatic stress-disorder. Humble had required that patients be in counseling or regular care in order to qualify, while plaintiffs insisted that was unconstitutional.

In August 2014, the Tucson Weekly interviewed Humble and representatives from the Arizona Cannabis Nurses Association. Last summer, an administrative judge recommended that the state allow PTSD as a qualifying condition for a medical marijuana patient card. Jan. 1, 2015 was when those with PTSD could apply for cards, but the nurses association disagreed with how Humble implemented qualifications.

AZCNA attorney Kenny Sobel said cancer patients aren’t asked if they are in chemotherapy to qualify.

Humble moved forward with the judge’s decision, but wanted PTSD patients to show they were receiving assistance or under a therapist’s care.

In Humble’s letter, he wrote that a replacement, interim or permanent, will be announced in the next few weeks.

“Careers have a lifecycle. Figuring out when it’s time to turn the page and to move on to something else is a hard thing to do. That time has come for me. After a lot of thinking I’ve decided that it’s time for me to move on to something else… I’ll keep you updated over the next couple of weeks regarding who will be named Interim or Permanent Director of our agency,” Humble wrote. “I don’t have any exact professional plans yet.  I think I’ll just catch my breath for a while and see what turns up- but I’m sure it’ll be in public health in one way, shape, or form.”

This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2015.

4 replies on “Goodbye Will”

  1. The need to remove marijuana from schedule 1 is a matter of life and and death.

    For Cancer patients, for kids suffering from Seizures, and for so many others, safe, legal, access to Medical Marijuana is a matter of life and death. Its critical that Marijuana be removed from Schedule 1 immediately. Please call the whitehouse comment line at (202) 456-1111 and ask that the President get that to happen, to protect the health and safety of Americans that need Medical Marijuana. Have everyone else you know call them too, and ask them to have their friends do the same thing.

    I’m a Scientist with a strong interest in Cancer research. The clinical evidence of the value of Marijuana as a life saving medicine is now so strong that the need to remove Marijuana from Schedule 1 has become a moral imperative. Google Medical Marijuana testimonials. Google Medical Marijuana Cancer Patient Testimonials.

    This weekend over 3,000 Americans died, in pain, of Cancer. Today, tomorrow and every day after that, 1,500 more Americans will die, after suffering horribly, from it. Every single minute another American dies of Cancer. Every American Cancer patient deserves the right to have safe, legal, and economical access to Medical Marijuana. Every single one.

    Americans who need Medical Marijuana shouldn’t be used as “Political Footballs” Please call the Whitehouse comment line at (202) 456-1111 and ask that the President take immediate action to remove Marijuana from Schedule 1 so American Physicians in all 50 states can prescribe it.

    Oncologists have know it for more than a quarter of a Century that Marijuana is a “wonder drug” for helping Cancer patients.

    The American Society of Clinical Oncologists wants Marijuana removed from Schedule 1. So does the American Medical Association, the professional society of all Physicians. A strong majority of Americans want Physicians in all 50 states to be able to prescribe Medical Marijuana. So do their Physicians., Cancer patients can’t wait.

    The need to immediately, completely, legalize Marijuana throughout the world is one of the most pressing moral issues of our time, because of its medical benefits and because of the damage prohibition causes to America and to the world.

    Complete legalization is critical — its vital that there aren’t “strings” or “hoops” that Cancer patients and others who need Medical Marijuana are forced to jump through.

    “Charlottes web” is NOT the solution. Cancer patients and people who suffer from chronic pain need THC, not just CBD. The “Berkeley study”, where 96% of stage 4 Cancer patients who had a wide variety of Cancers achieved remission, used high dose Medical Marijuana oil, 72% THC, 28% CBD, 1 gram/day (oral) over a 90 day course of treatment. It was a small study, and not placebo controlled, but those kinds of results are clearly remarkable, have been widely reported on in the press, and demand the need for immediate large scale clinical trials.

    More and more present and former members of law enforcement agree about the need to end prohibition, and have formed a rapidly expanding group of current and former undercover cops, FBI, DEA, prosecutors and Judges, from all over the world, called

    LEAP — Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

    because they’ve seen the damage prohibition causes to America and the world.

    See http://www.leap.cc/

    I’m a Scientist. Not a politician, not a cop.

    But as a Scientist with a strong interest in Cancer research, I feel even more strongly about the need to ensure that no Cancer patient is denied it, because I’m so impressed with its benefits for Cancer patients.

    I urge everyone reading this to PLEASE call and email the Attorney General, the press, Congress and the President today.

    Medical Marijuana helps with Alzheimer’s, Autism, Cancer, seizures, PTSD and chronic pain, and has helped many Americans, including many veterans, stop using Alcohol, and hard drugs, both legal and illegal ones.

    Every minute an American dies of Cancer.

    Every 19 minutes an American dies of a prescription drug overdose.

    Many vets become addicted to prescription opiates and die from them.

    NOBODY has ever died from smoking too much pot.

    Cancer patients are seeing remarkable results using high dose Medical Marijuana oil, in many cases achieving complete remission, even for stage 4 cancers — there are many excellent articles on the web, and videos on youtube with patient’s personal stories about their experiences with it — and every Cancer patient that uses Marijuana to ease their suffering benefits greatly from doing so.

    It is immoral to leave Marijuana illegal, for anyone, for even a second longer.

    For Cancer patients, its a matter of life and death.

    Cancer patients can’t wait.

    Medical Marijuana has an unmatched safety profile, and for people who suffer from so many diseases, of so many kinds, its a medical miracle — and the scientific evidence behind it is rock solid.

    For Cancer patients, Medical Marijuana encourages apoptosis and autophagy of Cancer cells, while leaving normal cells untouched, is anti-angigogenic, anti-proliferative, and is anti-angiogenic.

    Its also synergistic with chemotherapy and radiation therapy, making both more effective.

    For many Cancer patients its meant the difference between life and death.

    For everyone else, its a far safer alternative to Alcohol, and infinitely safer than Cigarettes.

    Either take them off the market too, or legalize Marijuana right now.

    2016 is too far away, Its too long to wait. Every year we lose more Americans to Cancer than died in WWII.

    Between now and the 2016 elections, roughly 1 MILLION Americans will die of Cancer.

    And Its a horrible way to die.

  2. It would be great to study the effects and properties of Cannabis. Now in AZ MMJ is nothing more than a revenue enhancer cloaked in fake proponents of we just want to help you like Obama care. Let the suppliers write the laws. You will get what first profit next revenue next who holds assets and manages them who is in the supply and processing OH yea the patient comes last. The wolf is at the door with this push to legalize. What is happening now is just licensing of the criminal activity from a few years a go. However if you don’t pay the tax you are a criminal.

  4. Mr. Humble was no more than a chess piece on a political chess board, being driven be the lunatic fringe of the unseen powers lurking in the shadows here in Arizona. I will have to give Mr. Humble the credit for having enough sense to get out. I have a curiosity as to who will replace him? Interesting?

    Remember: The Men in the shadows run Arizona; not the People of Arizona.

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