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In-depth look at Medical Marijuana in Arizona

azfamily.com:  “Cannabis, weed, reefer, marijuana, however you refer to it, it is now legal medicine in Arizona. By a 5,000-vote margin, Arizona voters said yes to medical marijuana, but the battle over legalization doesn’t end there.  As the state starts to write the rules, everyone seems to have an opinion. From law enforcement, to those who are ill, to the people writing the rules and those who support it, every side has a hand in how Arizona will implement the medical marijuana law.”

In the video, Will Humble says:

  • Our primary goal is to make sure this ends up as a medical use, not recreational use like what has happened in other states.
  • DHS is beging distracted by this medical marijuana law
  • Concerned about leakage from care givers to the street
  • Loop holes with caregivers and grow your own create the risk of recreational use
By |2015-04-06T18:50:17-07:00February 10th, 2011|Stories & Articles, Video, Will Humble Speaks|Comments Off on In-depth look at Medical Marijuana in Arizona
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Marijuana Use & Earlier Onset of Psychosis?

Will Humble’s blog:  “A number of published studies have found that using marijuana (and other psychoactive substances) is associated with an earlier onset of psychotic illness (notice I said “is associated with” rather than “causes”).  National mental health surveys have repeatedly found more substance use, especially cannabis use, among people with a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder.

The blog post contains this very strange statement:

“it makes sense to have some professional medical oversight at dispensaries to help protect the health status of the patients with debilitating medical conditions that will be using the dispensaries.”

Has Will Humble read his own rules?  The medical director is a figurehead with no real involvement with the dispensary or its patients.  The medical director who will rarely be present in a dispensary is not hired to provide professional medical oversight for dispensaries.  How can a doctor who will not see, examine, communicate with or have anything to do with a dispensary’s patients possibly “protect the health status of the patients?”

Under the  Arizona Department of Health Services rules, the duties of the medical director are almost exclusively to provide pamphlets, brochures and informational materials for use by the dispensary and/or distribution to patients.  The medical director is more like the librarian of a medical library that recommends reading materials related to medical marijuana.

By |2011-02-10T07:17:20-07:00February 8th, 2011|Medical Directors, Will Humble Speaks|Comments Off on Marijuana Use & Earlier Onset of Psychosis?
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DHS Divides Arizona into 126 Community Health Analysis Areas (CHAAs) for Dispensary Locations

The second draft of the Arizona Department of Health Services medical marijuana rules apparently divided Arizona into 126 areas where dispensaries can be located.  These areas are called “Community Health Analysis Areas (CHAAs).”  See the map of the CHAAs.  Read DHS Director Will Humble’s January 28, 2011, explaination of CHAAs in which he states:

“Several years ago, our public health statistics team divided the State into 126 Community Health Analysis Areas to help us analyze data for various disease monitoring programs.  The initial trigger to develop the CHAAs was a 1988 law that directed the ADHS to use the data in the cancer registry to identify areas and populations that need investigation.”

By |2011-02-06T09:13:21-07:00January 31st, 2011|CHAAs, DHS Rules, Will Humble Speaks|Comments Off on DHS Divides Arizona into 126 Community Health Analysis Areas (CHAAs) for Dispensary Locations
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Arizona Department of Health Services Director Will Humble Discusses Arizona’s Medical Marijuana Law

KSAZ Fox 10 TV interviews Arizona Department of Health Services Will Humble on Arizona’s new medical marijuana law.

Health Director Committed to Preventing Pot Misuse: MyFoxPHOENIX.com

By |2015-04-06T18:49:27-07:00January 31st, 2011|Stories & Articles, Video, Will Humble Speaks|Comments Off on Arizona Department of Health Services Director Will Humble Discusses Arizona’s Medical Marijuana Law
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Flag Drops on First Medical Marijuana Comment Period

Will Humble is the Director of the Arizona Health Services.  The following is from a December 17, 2010, post on his blog:

“One of our top priorities as we implement the AZ Medical Marijuana Act over the coming months is to ensure that we develop good Rules (called Administrative Code) so we can regulate medical marijuana effectively.  Rules that are clear, objective, well-researched, and that balance competing interests are absolutely critical in order to effectively implement a responsible medical marijuana program.  Our goal is to develop rules that’ll ensure qualified patients have access to marijuana for their medical condition while preventing (to the extent possible) recreational marijuana users from accessing marijuana through the Act’s provisions.  In addition, we want to develop Rules that ensure that marijuana dispensaries act responsibly and have adequate security and inventory controls.  In order to achieve these goals we will need your help.”

Read the entire post.

By |2015-04-06T18:49:23-07:00December 17th, 2010|Will Humble Speaks|Comments Off on Flag Drops on First Medical Marijuana Comment Period
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Arizona Department of Health Services Director on Implementing Proposition 203

Here are some interesting statements from Will Humble, the Director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, the agency that will oversee Arizona’s medical marijuana law.

On how DHS will determine which applicants get one of the 124 dispensary licenses:

“There are probably a number of ways to do it, but 3 come to mind right away.  We could, for example:

  1. Use some kind of first-come first-served process and simply approve the first 124 complete dispensary applications;
  2. Place the complete applications in a pool and have some kind of random drawing on a particular date; or
  3. Evaluate the complete applications using some kind of objective criteria (such as the professional quality of their business model, security plan, customer validation and inventory system etc) and select the best applications from the stack for approval.

Method 3 is probably the best because we’d be able to select the best of the qualified applicants”

On the proposed implementation schedule:

“Implementing the Act will take at least 4 months… and we expect to be able to accept our first applications for medical marijuana (Cannabis) cards and dispensaries in early April, 2011.  In the mean time, we’ll be developing the Administrative Code (Rules) for actually operating and regulating the program.  Here is our schedule for Rule development:

December 17, 2010: ADHS posts an initial informal draft of the Rules.

December 17, 2010 – January 7, 2011: ADHS receives informal (electronic) public comment on the initial informal draft Rules.

January 31, 2011: ADHS posts official draft Rules for public comment.

January 31, 2011 – February 18, 2011: ADHS receive public comment on a revised draft of the Rules.

February 15 – 17, 2011: ADHS holds 3 public meetings about the draft Rules

Tuesday, February 15, 2011 – 1 pm, 250 N 17th Ave., Phoenix

Wednesday, February, 16, 2011 – 1 pm, 400 W. Congress, Room 222, Tucson

Thursday, February 17, 2011 – 1 pm, 250 N 17th Ave., Phoenix

March 28, 2011: ADHS publishes the final Rules that will be used to implement the Act.”

By |2010-12-19T17:31:35-07:00November 29th, 2010|Dept Health Services, Will Humble Speaks|Comments Off on Arizona Department of Health Services Director on Implementing Proposition 203
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Q&A with Arizona State Director of the Department of Health Services on Medical Marijuana

The East Valley Tribune has a question and answer session with Will Humble, Director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, about Arizona’s new medical marijuana law.

By |2010-12-19T16:47:17-07:00November 15th, 2010|Stories & Articles, Will Humble Speaks|Comments Off on Q&A with Arizona State Director of the Department of Health Services on Medical Marijuana
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