Phoenix Business Journal: “Will Humble, who resigned in March as director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, has landed at the University of Arizona, where he has served as adjunct faculty for nearly a dozen years. On April 13, he will begin his new position as division director for health policy and evaluation at the Center for Population Science and Discovery at the Arizona Health Sciences Center.”
KTAR News: “Concerns are growing over the potential for Arizona to face an overabundance of medical marijuana.”
The Gazette: “Colorado made headlines worldwide when recreational marijuana went on sale to the public in January 2014. . . . And amid all the hoopla around legalized recreational pot, its older cousin, the medical marijuana (MMJ) industry — with 505 stores throughout Colorado — quietly continued to grow, adding patients by the thousands who seemingly had no problem finding physicians willing to diagnose what critics say are often phantom medical conditions.”
willcoxrangenews.com: “When Cathy’s Compassion Center opened its doors in the rural community of Cochise just over two years ago, it was the first medical marijuana dispensary to go online in the county and the third in the state. Now, the budding enterprise located near Willcox has expanded from 400 square feet to include 15,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor cultivation, with plans to apply to Cochise County for permission to add 44,500 square feet on top of that. The rural dispensary delivers across the state, with a staff of just three people, having served roughly 25,000 patients since it opened.”
Washington Post: “Deep in the Columbia River Gorge, a short drive from the Bridge of the Gods, the nation’s only government-run marijuana shop was running low on weed. The store had been open for just a few days. . . . Someone cracked a joke about this being a typical government operation, always running late. . . . This government store, bearing the cozy name Cannabis Corner, sells dozens of strains of marijuana and in several different forms, from pungent buds to infused cookies and coffee. . . . And it does it all at the direction of the North Bonneville Public Development Authority, making the local government uniquely dependent on this once-illicit drug.”
Tucson Weekly: “Language allowing people to grow recreational marijuana at their homes was completely scratched from a new draft of the citizens’ initiative we might see on the 2016 ballot, making the months-long collaboration between Safer Arizona and the Marijuana Policy Project a bit rusty in recent days. Up until this draft, dated Feb. 25, cultivation rights were considered. Ten days prior, the initiative said a person could grow up to six plants and a household a total of 12. Some dispensaries were concerned this might affect their business, and, according to members of Safer Arizona and other like-minded pot advocates, this might have been a reason for removing that section.”
myfoxdc.com: “The District passed a law legalizing pot use in residences, but the city did not specify how to control the smoke going into other apartments and condos or public areas. Now, some residents are complaining about the smoke, and building managers are trying to figure out how to handle the new problem.”
CNN Money: “P. Vincent Mehdizadeh, founder and current majority shareholder of Medbox, Inc. (OTCQB:MDBX) announced today that an agreement has been executed with Lizada Capital LLC, an investor in the field of legal cannabis products, that would result in the transfer of the majority of Mr. Mehdizadeh’s shares of MDBX [Medbox] to that firm.”
Phoenix New Times: “A new poll suggests marijuana legalization has “strong support” in Arizona. The poll from Arizona State University Morrison Institute for Public Policy asked Arizonans what they’d like to see done regarding marijuana in Arizona, and found that 45 percent supported full legalization, while 42 percent support a medical-only program, and 13 percent want marijuana completely outlawed in the state.
Free Republic: “Investors in small cannabis companies lost $23.3 billion in 2014 because shady stock promoters are capitalizing on the slow tide of legalization in the US by manipulating the penny stock market with “pump and dump” schemes. . . . In 2014, pot companies had the most drastic ups and downs for penny stocks according to data analyzed by Openfolio, a social network for investors to share which stocks they’re trading. This indicates that pumping and dumping marijuana stocks has accelerated to a pretty insane degree.”