Map Your Medical Marijuana Dispensary; State Wants to Allow One Medical Pot Shop Per "Health Analysis Area"

Arbitrary locations around the state created in 2005 by the state Department of Health Services will help guide where medical marijuana stores will go. The state agency created the "Community Health Analysis Areas" in 2005 for other purposes, but has found them useful in rolling out the new medical...

By Ray Stern

January 31, 2011

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Arbitrary locations around the state created in 2005 by the state Department of Health Services will help guide where medical marijuana stores will go.

The state agency created the "Community Health Analysis Areas" in 2005 for other purposes, but has found them useful in rolling out the new medical marijuana system that Arizona voters approved in November.

If you want to own and operate a dispensary, or you just want to know the chances of one opening near you, check the DHS map to see the suggested geographical limitations.

As we mentioned in our earlier blog post today, the DHS proposes to allow one dispensary per "CHAA," and will randomly selected from among qualified applicants who want to operate in the same area.

The areas are fairly large. Only one CHAA covers north Tempe, for example, which would mean dispensaries would be outnumbered by head shops in the area near Arizona State University by about five to one.

Below is a cut-and-paste of central Valley CHAAs.

Get one now, while they're hot.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.