The votes are counted and Arizona’s Prop 203 – the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act – has passed by a margin of 4,341 votes (841,346 YES, 837,005 NO). We’re receiving many calls and emails from people interested in the details of the new law. Here are the highlights of the measure:
- The allowable amount of marijuana for patients and caregivers is 2.5 ounces.
- IF a patient or caregiver is allowed to cultivate, the limit is 12 plants that must be grown in an “enclosed, locked facility”, defined as “closet, room, greenhouse, or other enclosed area”.
- Qualifying conditions: cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s), Crohn’s, Alzheimer’s, cachexia or wasting syndrome, severe and chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures (like epilespy), and severe and persistent spasms (like multiple sclerosis).
- Caregivers must be 21 years old and pass criminal background check for certain felonies.
- Caregivers can serve no more than five patients, must keep a card for each one
- Caregivers may receive reimbursement for actual expenses – not labor – from their own patients only.
- Patients’ and Caregivers’ medical marijuana cards last for one year and will contain their photo, name, address, birthdate, and indication whether medical marijuana is allowed to be cultivated at home.
- If the state has not issued a card within 45 days, a copy of the application shall have the same force as the card.
- Patients and caregivers may share marijuana with other patients for free, as long as they don’t knowingly cause the patient to exceed 2.5 ounces.
- Non-profit medical marijuana dispensaries are allowed.
- A patient who lives within 25 miles of a dispensary may not cultivate their own medical marijuana.
- Patients and caregivers may not possess medical marijuana on a school bus, school, or correctional facility.
- Patients may not smoke marijuana on public transportation or in any public place.
- Patients may not drive under the influence of marijuana; however, marijuana metabolites shall not be proof of impairment.
- Fees for non-profit dispensaries shall not be greater than $5,000 or $1,000 for a renewal license.
- Dispensaries must cultivate their own medical marijuana, which they can do onsite or at one separate physical address
- Patients and Caregivers may give marijuana to dispensaries, but not for any compensation.
- Neither the dispensary nor the cultivation address may be within 500 feet of a school.
- There can be no more than one dispensary for every ten pharmacies, except that there can be at least one dispensary in every county.
- The cards or recommendations for visiting patients from other medical marijuana states will be recognized in Arizona, but they may not shop at the dispensaries.
- Patients in assisted care facilities can be limited to non-smoking methods of use and only in certain areas; however, such facilities are not required to enact these limitations.
- Dispensaries must have a single secure entrance, a strong security system, and no medicating is allowed on the premises.
- Dispensaries must track patients’ acquisitions to ensure they receive no more than 2.5 ounces from any dispensaries within a fourteen day period.
- There shall be a secure, web-based confirmation system accessible by law enforcement and dispensaries, that reveals patients’ and caregivers’ names but not addresses and how much marijuana the patient received from all dispensaries in the past sixty days.
- Non-patients cannot be punished for being the vicinity of lawful medical marijuana use by patients or providing paraphernalia to patients.
- Schools and landlords cannot discriminate against medical marijuana patients and caregivers, unless they are subject to federal penalty.
- Employers cannot discriminate against patients and caregivers and a positive test for marijuana metabolites is not cause for disciplining or terminating a patient.
- Medical facilities and treatments, including organ transplants, cannot be denied to patients for their medical marijuana use.
- Parental rights of patients cannot be denied solely for their medical marijuana use.
The full text of the measure can be found at http://stash.norml.org/azmedmj
I need more information on how many i could transport when I donate them to other dispensaries, also how many is the state law allows to home grown per permit
I’ve been a chronic pain patient for many years! I moved here a year and a half ago from CA.. It took me this long to finally afford to get a card and my new pain specialist says Im not allowed to use medical marijuana? He says if I come up positive on a ‘monthly’ urine screen, he will not prescribe my already very low dose of opiates. I am only on 15mg of extended release of Morphine 2X per day and 5mg of plane oxy 4X per day for break-through pain. I’m totally willing to go off of this daily regimine if I could afford the MMJ? Unfortunately I’m low-income and I can’t afford to go all MMJ and I have a 5 year old child to raise. Sometimes I can’t sleep fully for days and it’s excruciating! MY ORIGINAL QUESTION IS: is there a primary or pain doc that is not against the legal use of MMJ near Winslow, Flagstaff, or Holbrook, AZ? You can email me back or call me at (928) 369-8522
Sincerely,
Nicole
I live in Calif & have a medical ma. card. I’m going to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale next week (flying). I want to bring two buds with me. Is that legal?
Thanks,
Larry
If going thru a military background check for a job, will the military learn I have a mmj card?
In Washington State the Law pass in 2014 anybody can buy marijuana. Its not Just for Medical any more.
Lots of people can’t afford the mmj Card so they go the regular Marijuana stores for their medical weed.
My Husband does edible Marijuana. I think they should sell edible Marijuana and Marijuana the kind just for the regular pipe not the pipes that use water and sell the pipes. In the same place they sell cigarettes All Unites States should do this.
If you would like this to pass then email your Senator in your state you live in.
My apartment complex “doesn’t recognize Arizona’s MMJ law” so smoking here would get me evicted. Where can I safely smoke, since you cannot smoke in public areas?
My boyfriend has a medical marijuana card. We live in Arizona. He got pulled over by police, he wasn’t smoking it or under the influence. He had a suspended license and they searched his car. The police found marijuana paraphernalia in his trunk. What is the law for this and rights?
I currently live outside the 25mi for cultivation in az and is it possible for my wife to caregive along with myself? Or is only one person allowed to caregive at the given address? Thank you
What is a valid school in rhode island for distances in regards to growing
Excellent article thanks again for the 30 extremely helpful to me in my own quest to better understand the whole Marijuana issue as a whole as well learn more of my own rights in the process…thanks again
Melissa ur boyfriend wont be in trouble for the pipes or anything like that if he has his card but if he has a suspended license he will get in trouble for that
How old do you have to be to get your medical card?
I am moving up to flagstaff in a couple of months and I am in the process of getting my medical card. I will be living on campus and I was wondering where I can smoke, since my car and dorm room are not options. Suggestions?
I have the same question. does anyone know where in Mesa. i can get the plant or leaves for juicing, which i was told has high cbd for healing and almost no thc…thx in advance any info would be really helpful…my email is -Italia.coffee@gmail.com
would pain patients receiving narcotic prescriptions be protected under rule # 8. ? Presently I am suffering that situation here in Oregon.
Question: Is a patient use marijuana within his parked car, with no physical means to drive his car EQUAL the law’s prohibition against “public use?”
The bigger question is what constitutes “public us?”
Thank you, David
Question: for those caregivers that have the rights to grow the 12 plants for each 5 their qualifying patuents, what happens if the police searched their enclosed/locked area and found all those plants? If the caregiver has all their cards for each patient what can and can’t the police do to the caregivers? I see it on the news all the time with the homes getting busted.
This text iss invaluable. Where can I find out more?
I am considering becoming a caregiver in growing and dispensing marijuana to 5 patients. I understand the application and fee process. Since we cannot charge for labor related to the Marijuana, what is then reasonably charged for this caregiver service other than adding actual costs of growing the weed?
Y’all freedom fighters are so awesome thanks for sticking up for people
Can I get an AZ medical marijuana card if I am a “snowbird” who owns a home in AZ and lives there six months a year and more?
I live in a small trailer park, I do not use marijuana, but my increasingly annoying neighbor has her card. We live in camp verde, az. is the landlord able to tell her that she can NOT use marijuana outside because their are 13 trailers, and people are complaining that they can smell it when she smokes outside her trailer, either in her yard or my yard, since i do not want my house being smoked in. I tried looking up the laws, but wanted to clarify since we have 13 residents here, which is like a tiny apt complex, can she legally smoke her weed outside? in the trailer park or is that considered a “public” place if she smokes outside on trailer park property?