DHS’ Final Arizona Medical Marijuana Rules Now Final

As Will Humble said last week, the March 28, 2011, “final” version of the rules have been changed.  Today the Arizona Department of Health Services submitted to actual final rules to the Arizona Secretary of State.  Here is the  Department of Health Services summary of the changes made to the March 28, 2011, rules.

R9-17-302(A)(5) and R9-17-304(D)(1)(f)(ii)
The 03/28/11 rules allowed applicants for a dispensary registration certificate to submit documentation of $150,000 available to begin operating. The rule was clarified by requiring the documentation to be dated within 30 days before submitting the application, the monies to be under the control of the entity submitting the application or a principal officer of the entity, and the documentation to demonstrate that the monies had been under the control of the entity or principal officer for at least 30 days before the application was submitted.

R9-17-304(D)(1)
Two subsections were added: One subsection requires an applicant for a dispensary registration certificate to submit documentation from the local jurisdiction where the proposed dispensary is located that the local jurisdiction does not have any zoning restrictions or that the proposed dispensary location complies with the zoning restrictions. A second subsection requires an applicant for a dispensary registration certificate to submit documentation that the applicant owns the location of the proposed dispensary or has permission from the owner of the location to operate a dispensary at the location.

R9-17-313(E)
The 03/28/11 rules prohibited a medical director from providing a written certification for medical marijuana for a qualifying patient obtaining marijuana from the dispensary associated with the medical director. Because there is no way for a medical director to ensure that a qualifying patient would not obtain medical marijuana from the dispensary associated with the medical director, the rule was amended to prohibit a medical director from providing written certifications for medical marijuana to any qualifying patient.