On Thursday, April 14, the Arizona Department of Health Services will begin accepting applications for medical marijuana patient and caregiver cards. The ADHS will review and approve or deny each application within 10 business days.
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Starting today, Arizonans can apply for medical marijuana patient cards.
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So, in just a couple of weeks, some Arizonans will be able to legally possess and use pot, provided they stay within ADHS guidelines. The department won't begin accepting dispensary applications until June, so all patients issued cards before a dispensary opens within 25 miles of their home can grow their own weed, if they indicate on their applications that they want to cultivate.
Get a card, and you can buy, possess, and use up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana every two weeks — or grow up to 12 plants. Follow the law, and cops can't arrest you, landlords can't discriminate against you, and employers can't penalize you (unless you're high on the job).
To get a card, you must:
First, receive written certification (on a form provided at the ADHS website) from a licensed Arizona physician stating you have one of the debilitating conditions listed in the program (which include cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, hepatitis C, and "severe and chronic pain").
Second, submit an application at the ADHS website, along with residence, postal and e-mail addresses, a copy of your Arizona driver's license or identification card, proof of U.S. citizenship, a photograph, your certified physician's statement, and a signed statement that you won't pass along your pot to anyone who's not allowed to have it.
If your own doctor won't write a medical marijuana certification, you can obtain certification from another physician, provided the physician is licensed to practice in Arizona and provides a written statement to ADHS confirming your debilitating condition and stating you've established a physician-patient relationship.
To cultivate your own cannabis, check the box on the application indicating it, and state that you don't live within 25 miles of a dispensary. All patient card applicants need to pay a non-refundable application fee of $150 ($75 for people who show proof of participation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a.k.a. food stamps).
People seeking cards as designated caregivers for qualifying patients (which would allow them to purchase and possess medical marijuana on behalf of a patient) must submit all the same information, but also undergo a criminal records check (convicted felons aren't eligible), and submit a set of fingerprints. The application fee for caregivers is $200. Each qualifying patient may have only one caregiver.
Everything must be submitted online through the ADHS website, using electronic copies in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). Once you submit your application, ADHS will approve or deny it within 10 business days. Cards are valid for one year; renewal fees are the same as initial application fees.
Once someone has a patient or caregiver card from ADHS, they may legally possess up to 2.5 ounces of usable medical marijuana, and may purchase their pot from any licensed dispensary in the state. Such edibles as marijuana brownies and cookies will count toward the legal limit, but only the weight of the usable marijuana in the edible will be counted. Dispensaries will be linked to a central database that records all purchases, and each patient or caregiver won't be able to buy more than 2.5 ounces total every two weeks.
If a patient or caregiver transfers medical marijuana to anyone who doesn't have a valid registry card — or if they're in possession of more than 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana — they will be breaking the law. Patients authorized to cultivate cannabis could still buy marijuana from a dispensary but would have to stay within the legal limits of possession.
Only patients with medical marijuana cards issued by ADHS can buy weed at dispensaries in Arizona; however, patients with valid cards from other states can legally possess marijuana here. As of March, more than 10 possession cases have been dismissed in Mohave County, because all the defendants proved they could legally use medical marijuana in their home states (usually California). Sergeant Steve Carbajal of the Tempe Police Department and Sergeant Mark Clark of Scottsdale PD both told New Times that officers expect to handle possession cases by out-of-state visitors on a case-by-case basis. Carbajal says officers have received information on the reciprocity function of Arizona's medical marijuana law.
Card-carrying patients in Arizona can rest easy knowing that if they get pulled over with less than 2.5 ounces of weed in their cars, they're not going to be arrested. However, it's still illegal to drive while high, and though the presence of marijuana in someone's system isn't proof of impairment (it stays in the user's system long after ingestion), police can still use the horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) test. This is the field test in which an officer takes a pen and asks the driver to follow it with his or her eyes. If the driver's eyes involuntarily jerk (nystagmus), cannot follow the trajectory of the pen at different angles, and have pupils of unequal size, an officer could consider this "probable cause" for impairment. However, many DUI attorneys say the HGN test is flawed, and drivers can refuse to submit.
