Pubdate: Mon, 06 Feb 2012
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2012 The Arizona Republic
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Michael Clancy

PHOENIX POT DISPENSARY REQUEST PUT OFF FOR 2ND TIME

Procedures, Timelines for Requests Not Complete

A medical-marijuana dispensary request in northeast Phoenix has been 
postponed a second time due to red tape in state government.

This would have been Phoenix's first medical-marijuana dispensary 
request since legal issues surrounding the voter-approved law were resolved.

The problem is that even though the legal issues are completed, the 
procedures and timeline for dispensary requests are not yet complete, 
Phoenix planner Alan Stephenson says.

The dispensary request was for a building on the southeastern corner 
of Cave Creek and Cactus roads, currently home to a check-cashing and 
gold-purchasing business. The applicant, Linda Sonder of American 
Healthcare Alternatives, needed a permit plus zoning variances 
because the site is closer to residences and the Phoenix Mountain 
Preserve than the city ordinance allows.

The request had previously been delayed because of lawsuits 
challenging the law that recently were resolved. This time it was 
delayed because the Arizona Department of Health Services has not 
completed its dispensary requirements, Stephenson said.

A Phoenix hearing officer is scheduled to consider the case on May 31.

According to the Department of Health Services, the new rules for 
dispensaries should be completed by the end of March, with license 
granting scheduled to start in April.

Phoenix has approved more than 20 medical-marijuana dispensary or 
cultivation sites, but because of their concentration in mostly 
industrial areas, not all of them will be allowed to open. City 
ordinance requests a mile between locations, and only one per 
community-health assessment area, a geographic tool used by Arizona 
to analyze illness concentrations.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom