Pubdate: Thu, 02 Aug 2012
Source: Tucson Weekly (AZ)
Copyright: 2012 Tucson Weekly
Contact:  http://www.tucsonweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/462
Author: J. M. Smith

FEAR AND THE MAN

While the Process of Opening Dispensaries Drags, the Number of 
Registered MMJ Patients Lags

In a perfect world, we would all be freely exchanging marijuana for 
money like we trade our fine legal tender for bread or bananas or 
apples or Trek Madone bicycles. But we don't.

The Man here in the great state of Arizona has made sure of that, 
putting a crimp in our collective style and gumming up the 
medical-marijuana system with all kinds of regulations and rules and 
Do Thises and Don't Do Thats. Those rules and regulations are 
grinding along ever so slowly in Phoenix this week, where state 
officials are gearing up to let a handful of dispensaries swing open 
doors to let the masses (OK, not quite the masses; more on that 
later) pick and choose freely among the buds.

The state got almost 490 applications for MMJ dispensaries. Almost 
all of them-about 460-were approved, and a lottery will determine 
which applicants get permission to open. All 10 dispensary districts 
in or near Tucson had applicants, meaning that up to 10 dispensaries 
could open in the Old Pueblo. That can't happen soon enough, in my 
eyes, but it might be a while.

First, the state will issue the registration certificates on Aug. 7. 
After that, potential operators will have about a year to get ready 
for inspection. Inspectors will look under tables and inside filing 
cabinets and through nooks and crannies, and if the operators have 
played their cards right, they will get approval to operate.

At least one Tucson location was built to the inspection 
standards-Green Halo Caregiver Collective, near Prince Road and 
Interstate 10. A raid July 10 left GHCC in shambles (see "Under 
Arrest," July 19), but operator Ken Sobel is confident the raid will 
not derail his dispensary plans.

The numbers: Arizona edged closer to 30,000 medical-marijuana 
patients by the end of June, when there were 29,495 patients 
statewide, according to the latest monthly report from the Arizona 
Department of Health Services. That might sound like a lot of people, 
but as I have said before in this space, it seems like a pretty 
paltry sum to me. I thought there would be 100,000 after a year. 
Colorado, which has 5 million people to our 6.3 million, has 99,000 
patients. I think several factors are at play.

First, it costs a lot of money to get a medical-marijuana card. 
Evaluations cost at least $100, and the card itself costs another 
$150. Add to that the cost of meds, and some people are priced out of 
the market, especially when they weigh in the ease of getting meds 
without an MMJ card. You don't have to pay a pot-dealer $150 before 
you can stop by for a hook-up. Plus, the cost of meds from a 
collective is generally higher than from said pot-dealer, and you 
might have to drive across town for it. Yes, there is an emerging 
market in patient exchanges with small growers, who generally have 
lower costs than collectives. But if you don't know anyone who grows, 
the collectives are where it's at, and they're costly.

Fear is another factor. It's not the kind of fear that brings that 
uncontrollable urge to run up the stairs from the basement; it's more 
subtle. It's like the fear that prevents some folks from speaking out 
during meetings at work, or stops them from asking a hot guy out for 
a drink ... it's fear of the unknown, fear of embarrassment. Some 
people don't want a pot paper trail leading to them, and pot-dealers 
don't keep records.

Anyway, the number of patients is slowly but surely inching upward. I 
am guessing that once dispensaries open, there will be a surge of 
card applications.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom