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The Department has requested and received an exception from the Governor's rulemaking moratorium to amend the rules in Arizona Administrative Code (A.A.C.) Title 9, Chapter 17 for the Medical Marijuana Program. The Medical Marijuana Program issues medical marijuana registry identification cards to qualifying patients and their caregivers and issues dispensary registration certificates to qualifying applicants requesting authorization to operate a medical marijuana dispensary. The Department authority's to implement and maintain the Medical Marijuana Program is granted by Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) §§ 36-2801 through 2819.
On January 17, 2012, the Arizona Superior Court ruled that the Department did not have authority to establish certain rules related to dispensary registration certificate applicants that the Department had adopted under an Exempt Rulemaking in April 2011. In response to the court order, the Department amended the rules by Emergency Rulemaking, published in May 2012. With the Emergency Rulemaking expiring in November 2012, the Department has initiated this rulemaking.
In this rulemaking, the Department is:
- Reducing the time to complete the Department's reviews of a dispensary registration application to ensure compliance with the Medical Marijuana Act's 90 day time-frame to issue a dispensary registration certificate;
- Amending requirements for information from an applicant, a principal officer, or a board member to comply with the court order;
- Amending the dispensary registration certificate allocation process; and
- Clarifying language and revising subsection references to ensure the rules are clear, concise, and understand.
The Department submitted a Notice of Final Rulemaking to the Governor's Regulatory Review Council, which reviewed and approved the rules at the December 4, 2012 meeting. The Notice of Final Rulemaking has been published on December 28, 2012 in the Arizona Administrative Register at 18 A.A.R. 3354. The rules will be effective on December 5, 2012.
You may access the most current information about this rulemaking by clicking on the links below.
Resources
Note: Information provided in PDF files, unless otherwise indicated.
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