The Arizona Department of Health Services announced on June 1, 2016, that it will accept applications for new Arizona medical marijuana dispensaries starting on July 18, 2016, and ending on July 29, 2016. My contact at DHS says there will be 31 dispensary licenses available. Here is the text of the DHS announcement:
The Department will accept dispensary registration certificate applications from July 18 – July 29, 2016. During this allocation, 31 dispensary registration certificates will be available. The “record date” for the allocation will be May 31, 2016. Because there are no available counties as of the record date, the Department will not allocate certificates under R9-17-303(B)(1). The top 31 CHAAs prioritized under R9-17-303(B)(2) will be made available by June 6. Any certificates not allocated under R9-17-303(B)(2) will be allocated under R9-17-303(B)(3).
At least 30 days before it begins accepting applications, the Department will announce (1) the dates during which applications will be accepted, (2) the number of dispensary registration certificates that will be available for the Summer 2016 allocation, and (3) the county(ies) and CHAAs in which dispensary registration certificates will be issued under the first two steps described below. The “record date” for the Summer 2016 allocation will be May 31, 2016. This means that changes in data variables affecting allocation priority which occur after the record date will not be considered for the Summer 2016 allocation.
Applications will be accepted for 10 consecutive business days. Thereafter, the Department’s review and allocation time frames will comply with R9-17-107.
The allocation process will follow these criteria:
The Department will first determine whether there is a county in which a dispensary registration certificate does not exist. If so, the Department will publicly identify that county and allocate one dispensary registration certificate within each identified county according to R9-17-303(B)(1).
[Richard Keyt’s comment: Every Arizona county has at least one medical marijuana dispensary so this criteria does not apply.]The Department will next prioritize the state’s 126 CHAAs based on the number of qualifying patients who reside within each CHAA and issue one of the available dispensary registration certificates in each of the highest ranked CHAAs. For example, if 30 dispensary registration certificates are available to be allocated during this step, the Department will publicly identify the 30 CHAAs with the highest number of qualifying patients who reside within the CHAA. The Department will then allocate one dispensary registration certificate within each identified CHAA according to R9-17-303(B)(2).
If any available dispensary registration certificates are not issued in one of the publicly identified counties or CHAAs under the first two steps, the Department will prioritize and allocate the remaining available certificate(s) according to R9-17-303(B)(3). This third step should not become necessary unless no qualified application is received for a county or CHAA identified under the first two steps.
If there is more than one applicant for an identified county or CHAA, each application that is substantively complete will be scored based on the number of qualifying patients who reside within 10 miles of the proposed dispensary location and the number of dispensaries operating within 10 miles of the proposed dispensary location. For example, if the proposed dispensary location is within 10 miles of one operating dispensary, the number of qualifying patients who reside within 10 miles of the proposed dispensary location will be divided by 2. If the proposed dispensary location is within 10 miles of two operating dispensaries, the number of qualifying patients who reside within 10 miles of the proposed dispensary location will be divided by 3.
If there is a tie between two or more applicants or a margin of 0.1% or less in applicant scores generated by applying the criteria in R9-17-303(B), the Department may randomly select one of such applicants for allocation of the subject dispensary registration certificate.
Per R9-17-303(C), “10 miles” includes the area contained within a circle that extends for 10 miles in all directions from a specific location.
Per A.R.S. § 36-2810(A), qualifying patient, operating dispensary and proposed dispensary addresses will not be disclosed before or after the Summer 2016 allocation.
