November 13, 2010, By: Russ Belville, NORML Outreach Coordinator
The Associated Press is reporting that Arizona’s Proposition 203 is now leading in the vote by 4,421 votes with only 10,000 votes remaining to be counted from Maricopa County (a major metro county comprised of Phoenix and Tempe). The measure had trailed by about 7,200 votes at the end of election night but counting of absentee and provisional ballots have shifted the count by over 11,000 votes.
The Marijuana Policy Project is declaring victory and that Arizona will become the 15th medical marijuana state. The newest medical marijuana state will now protect registered patients from arrest and provide a dispensary system for them to acquire their medicine. Patients will not be permitted to grow their own medicine at home if they live within 25 miles of a dispensary. Patients will be allowed to possess 2.5 ounces of marijuana acquired no more often than every 14 days when purchased from the dispensaries. Patients will not be able to sell marijuana to the dispensaries that are required to grow their own cannabis within highly-secured facilities. There can only be a maximum of one dispensary for every ten pharmacies, except when to allow at least one per county. The complete text is available from the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project.