Arizona Poised to Pull Medical-Marijuana Cards of Violators
The Arizona Department of Health Services could revoke more than a dozen medical-marijuana cards, saying patients and caregivers have either violated the state’s new medical-marijuana law since receiving a card or lied about their histories when applying for one.
Health officials on Tuesday said they have revoked the cards of two patients, but because of a confidentiality clause in the law, they could not say specifically why the cards were taken away.
Typically, they said, cards are revoked if a law-enforcement agency notifies health officials of an arrest tied to buying or selling medical marijuana, which is illegal. The law does not allow the sale of marijuana to patients outside of dispensaries, which have not yet opened in Arizona. Instead, patients can only give marijuana to each other, receiving nothing of value in return. Or, health officials said, cards can be revoked if patients fail to properly secure plants in a locked facility.
Health officials have revoked the medical-marijuana cards of two caregivers and are reviewing the histories of 10 others. Caregivers typically grow marijuana for themselves and other patients, too.
Tom Salow, a rules administrator for ADHS, said all those caregivers could soon lose their marijuana cards, too, because they either did not disclose a violent-crime history on their applications or they have violated certain drug laws.
- Read the entire article at Tucson Citizen.
