Arizona Marijuana Cards | MMJ Program | AZ Cannabis Laws

Over the past few years, the legality for both medical marijuana and CBD oil made from hemp has been a hotly debated topic among Arizona lawmakers, law enforcement officials, and courts.

The confusion stems from conflicting Arizona cannabis laws. Under older state laws the term “cannabis” refers not to the plant cannabis, but to the drugs produced from cannabis — which is technically referred to as marijuana, causing a conflict in the two laws. Moreover, there were questions as to the legality of CBD produced from hemp.

In May of 2018 Arizona Governor Doug Ducey cleared things up a bit, at least in reference to CBD, when he signed legislation creating a hemp pilot program to further research and development into the cultivation of the valuable crop.

Although the law became clearer, law enforcement and public health officials didn’t seem to be so clear on the concept. Anti-marijuana law enforcement officials began arresting and convicting people for possession of CBD vape pens. Their argument was that they are not covered by the state’s medical marijuana measures. And they are right. Because CBD is not made from marijuana. What they were actually saying was that oils and concentrates are not covered under the state’s medical marijuana program.

Then, in the late Spring of 2018, the prohibitionists struck again when an Arizona appeals court upheld a decision by a lower court and ruled that cannabis extracts are not protected by the medical marijuana law. Since then, advocates have since appealed the case to the state’s Supreme Court to argue that the language in the state’s medical marijuana laws does, indeed, legalize extracts of the cannabis plant.

Taking an anti-cannabis stance and the state’s attorney general asked the court to dismiss the case. However, in October of 2018, the he reversed his stance. In a statement regarding the case he said, “We believe this matter deserves a higher court to provide some certainty.” And an official statement from his office claimed that the “last thing the attorney general wants to do is stand in the way of legitimate patients getting access to their medicine.”

The ongoing battle is still ongoing. Nonetheless, the Arizona health officials have not instructed dispensaries to stop selling cannabis oil. Sadly, unless the state’s Supreme Court overturns the lower court’s ruling, medical marijuana patients, and anyone else for that matter, that is caught with cannabis oils will be prosecuted under the state’s strict marijuana laws.

All the bickering over medical marijuana may be a moot point in the not-too-distant future as a legalization measure titled the “Arizona Marijuana Legalization, Ban on Taxes, and Automatic Pardons Initiative” is expected to be on the state’s 2020 ballot.
Although the initiative is focused on legalizing the use of marijuana by adults, it could also eliminate the risk of being afoul of the state’s marijuana laws just for using a vape pen. The collecting of signatures for the ballot initiative petition is expected to launch before July. In order to get on the ballot, they must collect 237,645 valid signatures by July 2, 2020.

Although a similar initiative was defeated in the most recent election, advocates are expecting a better outcome this time around.

Political consultant Stacy Pearson, whose firm is running the campaign, said in a statement, “The last four or five years of this have been light years in terms of industry development and maturity. So, this isn’t an experiment anymore in the Western states. There are things that have worked that can be replicated and things that haven’t worked in other states that can be avoided,” Pearson said. “It’s a smarter, better researched, more mature industry and campaign.” The language for the initiative is still being finalized.