Cannabis Concentrates for Medical Use Green-Lighted by Arizona Supreme Court
This was the story that medical marijuana patients, and indeed, the whole state industry, had been waiting for. Following a declaration in June 2018 by the state Court of Appeals that concentrates including popular products like oil for vape pens, shatter, and most edible cannabis, were illegal, in late May the state Supreme Court settled the issue in a 7-0 vote. Now, it's all good again.
The Trouble With (Some) Vapes

Seventeen people in Arizona had been hospitalized with vaping-related illnesses as of November 2019.
Possible Rec Law in 2020: The Launch of the Smart and Safe Arizona Act

Demitri Downing, Steve White, and Stacy Pearson discussed the planned Arizona marijuana legalization initiative for the 2020 ballot at a March 2019 meeting of the Marijuana Trade Industry Association.
Ray Stern
Read about the details here. How are you going to vote?
A Group of Industry Insiders Launch Their Own Initiative

Arizona Cannabis Chamber of Commerce board member Mason Cave explains the group's draft plan for legalization at a public meeting on November 13.
Ali Swenson
Phoenix Medical Marijuana Patient Jailed for Vape Pen
Before the above-mentioned state Supreme Court victory on concentrates, some weird shit was going on. One of those foibles included the arrest and jailing of a Phoenix-area medical marijuana patient for a vape pen. A state trooper took Noah Blackwell to jail for the allegedly illegal vape pen and for a legal gun he had in the car, since carrying a gun and illegal drugs is, well, illegal. But it turned out neither was illegal for Blackwell, and he avoided prosecution.
SB 1494 Part One: Dealing With Cards
Governor Doug Ducey made life easier, and better, for marijuana patients in 2019 by signing SB 1494, a law that had multiple effects. Two of its features dealt with patient cards. The first extended the cards' validity from one to two years, effectively halving their cost. The second made cards digital, a process that went online in December and was intended to make things easier for everyone. If you don't have a smartphone, where most digital cards will be stored, the state advises patients to print out the cards and keep one in a wallet or glove box.
SB 1494 - Testing, Testing
The primary feature of SB 1494 was to set up a state-overseen program to test all medical marijuana products for contaminants like mold, residual pesticides, and heavy metals. A council of experts recently finalized their recommendations on the program to the state. Testing must begin by November 2020.
Arizona Medical Users Can Now Purchase Legally in Hawaii and New Mexico
Arizona patients should have no problem finding medicine in California, Colorado, or Nevada, or any other state with a recreational cannabis law. But what can patients do if fate takes them to the island paradise of Hawaii? They can apply for a temporary card, that's what. And if they head east to New Mexico, the option's even better as of 2019: Arizona patients can legally enroll in New Mexico's program.
The Anti-TASC Lawsuit Goes On
Impoverished marijuana offenders continue to be put through the wringer in Maricopa County's expensive TASC program. But help could be on the way in the form of a lawsuit still wending its way through court that might terminate the drug-treatment option, which treats poor people to a longer trip just because they're poor.
Kari Lake's Pot-Themed F-Bomb
"Fuck them. They're 20-year-old dopes," said Fox 10 News anchor Kari Lake about Phoenix New Times last summer — while streaming live video. "That's a rag for selling marijuana ads."
If you read one marijuana story last year, it was probably this one. It wasn't actually about marijuana, but it was one of New Times' most-viewed stories in 2019.