Arizona made history in 2010 when medical marijuana became legal. Fast forward and there are now more than 160,000 AZMMJ cardholders alone! As the popularity and accessibility of medical marijuana as a treatment option for a range of conditions has grown, the MMJ laws, legal requirements and regulations haven’t kept up.
Senate Bill 1420 – Testing and More Affordable AZMMJ Card Costs
Currently in process is Senate Bill 1420, a proposal that has passed the Senate which aims to set a standard of protection and accountability for medical marijuana cultivations.
SB 1420 will head to the Arizona House. If passed, the bill will take effect July 1, 2019, and would require all medical cannabis products in the state of Arizona to be tested for levels of THC, mold, bacteria, pesticides and other chemicals, and for the test results to be printed on the packaging. The law would apply to cultivations, dispensaries, and testing labs, and would allow for a higher level of transparency for AZMMJ patients to know exactly the quality of medicine they are purchasing and ingesting. The bill also requires that the packaging be child-proof. SB 1420 is expected to pass in the House and, then, will go to Arizona Governor Doug Ducey to (hopefully) be enacted into law.
Additionally, SB 1420 moves to lower the cost of an Arizona medical marijuana card, from $150 to $50 for the first year, and then $25 for annual renewals. This means getting an AZMMJ card is more affordable for all new or registered Arizona residents in the medical marijuana program.
Other Legislation – HB 2064 and HB 2066
Concurrently while SB 1420 was proposed, two other bills were voted on and vetoed. HB 2064 would have banned certain types of child-enticing MMJ packaging designs, and HB 2066 sought to use funds from AZMMJ patient fees to create programs warning minors about the “dangers of marijuana.” In response to HB 2066, a maddened Representative David Stringer (R-Prescott) stated that Arizona voters supported marijuana for medical use in 2010, and called such an education program “a back-door way to try to tell voters they made a mistake.”
This is great news for the AZMMJ patients! We will continue updating our readers on the status of SB 1420 as it progresses.
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