Feel left out of the Arizona medical-marijuana business? The Arizona Department of Health Services just announced that it will begin taking applications for new dispensaries this summer. This is the first time the state will be reviewing new applications for dispensary operating certificates since a lottery was held in 2012…
Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk was the only one of four panelists at a Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce marijuana event who wouldn’t say if she’s ever used cannabis. The morning panel discussion, “Breakfast with a side of … Marijuana?” was hosted by the chamber for a group of about 75 of its…
An Arizona lawmaker’s proposal to stop dispensaries from moving out of their state-designated areas highlights the need for updated medical-marijuana program rules. The Arizona Medical Marijuana Act that voters approved in 2010 requires the state to adopt rules that govern what was then a fledgling program. Besides a few court-ordered…
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce is offering an anti-cannabis workshop next month with prohibitionist county attorneys Bill Montgomery and Sheila Polk to help “sound the alarm” on a proposed legalization initiative. The Chamber will offer the March 2, invite-only workshop to corporate legal advisers, human-resources professionals, risk managers, and compliance…
Arizona lawmakers have backed off a controversial plan to prohibit pregnant women from consuming medical marijuana — instead they want dispensaries to warn them of alleged pot risks. The original proposal, House Bill 2061, was replaced this week with a strike-all amendment that forms the basis for a new bill…
Tom Horne, John Huppenthal and two other Republican former Arizona Superintendents of Public Instruction came out strongly against marijuana legalization in a Sunday column that fails the take full account of the issues. Horne, Huppenthal, Jaime Molera and Lisa Graham Keegan claim in the op-ed published in the Arizona Republic that…
Some members of the Arizona Legislature apparently think the people of the state can’t handle the responsibility of direct democracy, especially when it comes to legalizing marijuana. Four new measures, authored primarily by Republican state representatives Bob Thorpe and J.D. Mesnard, chisel away at the power of the people to…
If Arizona voters approve adult-use marijuana legalization this year, it won’t hurt tourism, using Colorado’s experience as an example. Tourism could even improve because of legalization, especially while cannabis freedom still is a novelty in most of the country. Yet the Arizona Lodging and Tourism Association, (AzLTA), an influential group…
New reports show the finances of an anti-marijuana group lag well behind a pro-legalization campaign. Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy (ARDP), led by Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, collected $90,095 in contributions from November 25, 2014, to December 31, 2015, according to campaign-finance reports released last week. After spending $19,000…
Facebook shut down the pages of state-authorized medical-marijuana dispensaries this week in Colorado and elsewhere, including today in Arizona. “I don’t fully understand it, and I can’t explain it,” says J.P. Holyoak, principal of Arizona Natural Selections in Phoenix. “We got a notice this morning saying our account had been…
A new pro-marijuana billboard that plays off the slogan promoting the Waste Management Phoenix Open was unveiled in Phoenix on Monday by the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. “If beer and golf make for the ‘greatest party on grass’…Why can’t adults enjoy a safer party on grass?” reads the…
Cannabis supporters were out in force at the state capitol today to celebrate a victory for Arizona’s Medical Marijuana Program. Supporters of medical pot were jubilant because state legislation,, HCR 2019, sponsored by Arizona Representative Jay Lawrence (R-Fountain Hills), would have prohibited naturopaths and homeopaths from writing medical-marijuana prescriptions. J.P…
The former CEO of a nonprofit drug-treatment firm that contracts with Maricopa County has made a fortune off of Arizona marijuana offenders, records show. Barabara Zugor, who retired in 2014, reported earnings from TASC of $360,000 to $476,000 a year since at least 2008, online records show. In Maricopa County,…
A Maricopa County nonprofit that makes much of its money off low-level marijuana offenders would take a big financial hit if Arizona voters legalize marijuana in November. The Treatment Assessment Screening Center, better known as TASC, contracts with the county to provide six months of mandatory drug-treatment services for first-…
A lawmaker’s attempt to destroy Arizona’s successful medical-marijuana program will be met with stiff resistance, including a planned protest on Wednesday at the State Capitol. A group of about 175 industry professionals, including owners of some of the state’s 87 dispensaries, met on Thursday night and agreed to encourage their…
The dream was vivid, like several she’d experienced after she was forced to quit cannabis cold turkey by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office: Her sister bursts into her room holding a burning spliff and yelling urgently, “Here, hit this!” And she reaches out . . . But this was what…
Qualified Arizonans legally bought and consumed more than 19 tons of medical-marijuana products in 2015, spending about $215 million. The Arizona Department of Health Services keeps a running total of dispensary sales and released its December report this week, allowing New Times to calculate last year’s totals. The DHS released…
The smell of marijuana was ubiquitous at The Errl Cup over the weekend in Tempe. Patients came to Tempe from around the state to sample flower and concentrates from local dispensaries and caregivers, to enjoy live music and an onsite glass-blowing demonstration, and to see awards presented for best products…
Mikel Weisser, new National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws state director, plans to rebuild Arizona’s fractured NORML in anticipation of a vote to legalize pot for adult use in November. “I’m committed to making marijuana legalization my life’s work,” Weisser said. A former high school history teacher, Weisser…
In Colorado, the past 16 weeks have seen 15 recalls of cannabis products because of pesticides, including the largest such recall last week. The state’s one of several that now mandate or encourage testing of recreational marijuana for contaminants. But in Arizona, the products of medical-marijuana sellers and cultivators never have…
The Errl Cup is testing pot concentrates so that medical-marijuana customers know where they’re getting the best products and where they’re getting ripped off. Free to all medical-marijuana cardholders, the event is set for January 9 in Tempe. It will feature a competition for best flower and concentrate, test results…
Once again, the facts have gotten in the way of arguments by cannabis prohibitionists. Echoing the messages of anti-pot warriors like Kevin Sabet, local cannabis critics Sheila Polk and Seth Leibsohn wrote in a widely published op-ed just last month that legalization would lead to more teen use of the…
