Open A Dispensary In Arizona - Dispensary Permits Cannabis Consulting and Templates

Status: In Arizona, registered patients may possess and use medical marijuana. State licensed businesses may grow, process, transport, and dispense medical marijuana. Voters will decide on recreational legalization on November 3, 2020.

CBD Program	Medical Program	Recreational Program	Are Applications Open?
Legal	Legal	Not legal	closed

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Number of Arizona Marijuana Business Licenses Licenses Available

Dispensaries	Cultivation	Manufacturing/Processing	Transportation
TBD	0	0	0

Every state has different marijuana laws- they are regulated by state, not federal law. Some states allow marijuana for recreational and medical use, some states only allow medical use, and some only allow certain low THC products for medical use. Most states limit the number of licenses they will grant and the window to apply for them. Getting licenced is never simple- there are very specific requirements and guidelines that differ by state and its usually highly competitive, which is why most successful applicants work with consultants like Dispensary Permits to help guide them. We highly advise you read the guidelines below thoroughly and then consider working with a consultant or using our templates and guides.
You can read the full text of the Arizona Marijuana Business Licenses law at: www.azdhs.gov

Arizona Recreational Marijuana Establishment License Guidelines

A Marijuana Establishment is an entity licensed by the Department to operate all of the following:

A single retail location at which the licensee may sell marijuana and marijuana products to consumers, cultivate marijuana and manufacture marijuana products.
A single off-site cultivation location at which the licensee may cultivate marijuana, process marijuana and manufacture marijuana products, but from which marijuana and marijuana products may not be transferred or sold to consumers
A single off-site location at which the licensee may manufacture marijuana products and package and store marijuana and marijuana products, but from which marijuana and marijuana products may not be transferred or sold to consumers.

The Department may not issue more than one marijuana establishment license for every ten pharmacies within the state.

The Department will establish reasonable application fees, license fees, and renewal fees for testing facilities and marijuana establishments after the initiative is voted into law.

RECOMMENDED ARIZONA MARIJUANA BUSINESS PLANS FOR A MARIJUANA ESTABLISHMENT LICENSE:

Arizona Medical Marijuana Dispensary License Guidelines

A Dispensary Registration Certificate is a non-profit dispensary license that allows a licensee to grow, process and sell medical marijuana to patients.

The application fee for a Dispensary Registration Certificate is $5,000. If a Dispensary Registration Certificate application is complete and the applicant is not allocated a Dispensary Registration certificate, the applicant will be refunded $1,000 of the $5,000 application fee. The application fee is not refundable in other circumstances, including an applicant withdrawing the application.

Application Process:
The next allocation process for a Dispensary Registration Certificate will follow these criteria:

Beginning on April 1, 2020, the Department shall issue all new nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary registration certificates in the following order of priority based on the dispensary’s geographic area as described in the registration certificate application:
1. The geographic area had a registered nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary move from the geographic area and the geographic area is at least twenty‑five miles from another dispensary that has been issued a dispensary registration certificate.
  - If the Department receives multiple applications from previously approved nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary locations, the department shall approve the certificate for the application that serves the most qualifying patients within five miles of the proposed dispensary location.
2. The geographic area is at least twenty‑five miles from another dispensary that has been issued a dispensary registration certificate.
  - If the department receives multiple applications or if there are no applications from previously approved dispensary locations, the department may issue the registration certificate by random drawing.

A nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary that receives a registration certificate on or after April 1, 2020 must open the dispensary at the approved location within eighteen months after the application is approved or the registration certificate becomes invalid.

A nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary that is issued a registration certificate may relocate only as follows:
1. If the dispensary is located within a city or town, only within that city or town.
2. If the dispensary is located within an unincorporated area, only within the unincorporated area of the county where the dispensary is located but not within twenty‑five miles from another dispensary that has been issued a dispensary registration certificate.

Applicants shall be required to submit, as part of their application, the following plans: Inventory Control, Patient Education, Record Keeping and Security.

RECOMMENDED ARIZONA MARIJUANA BUSINESS PLANS FOR A DISPENSARY REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE:

Arizona Medical Marijuana Testing License Guidelines

An Independent Third-Party Laboratory is an entity that has a national or international accreditation and that is certified by the department to analyze marijuana cultivated for medical use.

The application fee for an Independent Third-Party Laboratory Agent is $5,000 with a renewal fee of $1,000.

The History of Arizona Marijuana Business Licenses Marijuana

Medical Marijuana Program Overview:
In November 2010 Arizona legalized medical marijuana through a majority vote of Proposition 203. The state’s Department of Health Services regulates the program and since legalization has awarded close to a hundred dispensary licenses. The Department licensed 99 dispensaries in 2012. The Department re-opened the dispensary licensing application process in July of 2016 – 31 additional licenses were awarded after 750 applications were submitted, making a total of 130 dispensaries in Arizona.

On May 28, 2019, the Arizona Supreme Court unanimously ruled that cannabis extracts – including concentrates, vaporizer cartridges and infused food and beverages – are legal and the state’s medical marijuana dispensaries can sell them. The ruling came after a 2016 conviction and sentencing of Rodney Jones, a registered medical marijuana patient who was found in possession of a jar containing 0.05 of an ounce of hashish in 2013. The ruling lifts concern off of licensed medical marijuana businesses who sell extracts and other registered patients who consume them.

On June 7, 2019, Senate Bill 1494 passed into law to make improvements in the state’s medical marijuana program. The new law will make the following changes:

Require the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) to establish testing laboratory licenses and create standards for third-party labs to test medical marijuana grown in the state for contaminates and toxins such as pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides.
Extend patient card validity from one year to two years, and make electronic patients cards available by December 1, 2019
Establish priority licensing for additional non-profit dispensaries based on geographic areas where a previous dispensary moved from and is 25 miles from another dispensary.

Qualifying Medical Conditions: Cancer, Glaucoma, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), Hepatitis C, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Crohn’s disease, Agitation of Alzheimer’s disease, PTSD, A chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition or the treatment for a chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition that causes: Cachexia or wasting syndrome; Severe and chronic pain; Severe nausea, Seizures, including those characteristic of epilepsy; Severe or persistent muscle spasms, including those characteristic of multiple sclerosis.

Recreational Marijuana Overview:
The Smart and Safe Arizona initiative to legalize recreational marijuana submitted 420,000 signatures on July 1, 2020. On August 11, 2020, the Secretary of State’s office announced the initiative has been certified to appear on the state’s ballot. Voters will decide on the issue during the November 3, 2020 elections.

If the initiative is voted into law by state residents, the following would be enacted:

The sale, possession, and consumption of one ounce of marijuana (of which 5 grams can be concentrate) for adults at least 21 years old
Home cultivation of up to 6 cannabis plants at an individual’s primary residence (up to 12 plants if two adults reside there)
The licensing of over 100 recreational marijuana dispensaries
Marijuana will be sold with a 16 percent excise tax (a rate lower than most other legal states)
The decriminalization of many marijuana-related offenses
The establishment of a social equity ownership program

Regulating Department: Arizona Department of Health Services

Program Timeline:
September 26, 2019 – Smart and Safe Arizona initiative filed with Secretary of State
By December 1, 2019 – Implementation of Electronic Patient Cards
By December 31, 2019 – Medical Marijuana Testing Council shall be established and present findings and recommendations to the Governor
By April 1, 2020 – New Dispensary Registration Certificates to be awarded
July 3, 2020 – Signatures collected for Smart and Safe Arizona must be submitted to the Secretary of State for validation
By November 1, 2020 – Testing results must be available to patients from dispensaries
November 3, 2020 – Voters will decide on recreational marijuana legalization