Following Arizona voters' narrow approval of Proposition 203 in November, the Arizona Department of Health Services is getting ready to publish the rules by which the state's medical marijuana will be managed.
These will include detailed requirements for siting dispensaries, qualifications for patients and forms that doctors will have to fill out. The official rules are scheduled to be available on Monday, March 28th, and will be followed a few weeks later by patient cards for qualified residents and applications for dispensaries. Many Pima County residents are already lining up to claim a stake in what they see as the business of the future.
Kimberly Haslett lives in Oro Valley, where she found a site for her business, Mother Earth Dispensary, and formed an organization that will provide education for patients and other members of the community. She says her desire to work in the medical marijuana field has its roots in West Virginia, where she grew up, and where cancer rates are among the nation's highest.
Kimberly Haslett plans to hold classes to educate patients and other residents about medical marijuana.Haslett watched many members of her family struggle with cancer, including an aunt who benefited from using medical marijuana. Haslett remembers having to buy marijuana on the streets so she could use it in food to give her sick relative relief.
"You know, I’m not a drug dealer, it was scary for me to do, but I knew that I loved her enough that I would have done anything to relieve her pain and suffering," Haslett says. "I watched her die a very terrible death, and we we were able to help her with cannabis.”
The Pima County Sheriff's Department and the Tucson Police Department say they are waiting for the state to release its official rules so they can know exactly how medical marijuana's legalization will impact law enforcement agencies in the community.
Arizona is the 15th state in the nation that has legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
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