Phoenix New Times:  “Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk announced in dramatic fashion last July that federal authorities would shut down every medical-marijuana dispensary in Arizona ‘as it opens.’  Polk made the bad prediction in a letter she penned and sent to the governor after getting several other county attorneys to sign it. We checked into her assertion and reported to you at the time that Polk’s claim appeared to be nonsense and was, in fact, a major exaggeration of something she’d been told by a retired drug agent.  How wrong was Polk’s info?  As of today, there are 16 retail shops legally selling medical marijuana under Arizona law.”

Flagstaff Live:  “How stoned is too stoned to drive?  A recent decision by Arizona’s appellate court says it’s illegal for Flagstaff’s nearly 1,000 medical marijuana cardholders—and thousands of other recreational users—to drive their cars, even if they haven’t smoked in weeks. A 22-year-old Flagstaff father was on his way home from the grocery store earlier this year when he was stopped for having expired registration. His 2-year-old daughter was in the back seat, according to police. . . . He’d smoked marijuana six hours before driving, he told the officer.”

Yahoo! News:  “according to Robert Calkin, president and CEO of the Cannabis Career Institute, there’s growing interest in how to run a successful medical marijuana dispensary, collective, or an edible marijuana (think brownies, cookies, and cake) business. ‘Aside from having a personal interest in health or the growing of [marijuana], people are realizing that this can be a legitimate lifetime career,’ says Calkin, who runs seminars around the country for $249 a pop to teach interested parties the finer points of properly running a medical marijuana business—without running afoul of the law. “Before it was a hobby or a side project you couldn’t tell anybody about,” he says. “There are now paid positions, and that wasn’t the case before.” In fact, the job can be well-paid. If you become a dispensary manager, you can make $100,000 or more a year, says Calkin.”

Phoenix Business Journal:  “With efforts under way to repeal the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, supporters commissioned an economic analysis that found the budding industry could employ more than 1,500 Arizona workers and provide $74 million in income to those households.”

Las Vegas Sun:  “While Nevada lawmakers debate the merits of legalizing marijuana, one company is looking at opening the state’s first medical marijuana school this month.  The Budtender School is expected to have its grand opening on April 13. Created by the Cannabis Career Institute”

Washington Times:  “A majority of Americans now support legalizing marijuana use — the first time public support has crossed the 50 percent threshold, according to new polling from the Pew Research Center.  Pew found that 52 percent of Americans said marijuana use should be legal, compared to just 45 percent who said it should be illegal. The level of support has jumped 11 percentage points in the last three years.”

Glendale Star:  “Residents of North Glendale will no longer have to make the trip to downtown Glendale to purchase their medical marijuana. A second medical marijuana dispensary [Glendale Greenhouse owned by Paul Perez] opened March 25 at 8160 W. Union Hills Drive, Suite A 106.”

Arizona Daily Star:  “Medical marijuana dispensaries are close to opening in Marana and Oro Valley since both municipalities have given the go-ahead to let them operate.  There are currently three dispensaries in the city of Tucson.  On March 27, Oro Valley issued a business license for Catalina Hills Botanical Care, 12152 N. Rancho Vistoso Blvd. That follows the Marana Planning Commission’s January approval of Nature Med, a 6,220-square-foot facility with on-site cultivation at 5390 W. Ina Road.

Time:  “With Republicans in a chaotic retreat on social issues like gay marriage and immigration, some conservatives are looking for places to set up a skirmish line. Pete Wehner proposes marijuana as the bright line today in the Washington Post.  I’ve been for legalization for years. But I think Wehner’s argument deserves a respectful read because he raises at least one crucial question for our society.”

Payson Roundup:  “Plans are under way to open a medical marijuana dispensary in Payson later this year.  Desert Medical Campus, the only group with state authorization to open a licensed dispensary in Rim Country, has been in talks with town officials for some time to open a dispensary and cultivation site off North Tonto Street.”

Politico: “Now that voters in Colorado and Washington have legalized recreational marijuana use, dope smokers there can light up without the usual paranoid fear that the cops are at the door.  The taxman is another matter.  Cash-starved legislators are seeing dollar signs in dime bags — with talk that a tax on marijuana could pump hundreds of millions or even billions into budgets still reeling from the recession.”

Seattle Pi:  “‘No. No more than they could stop the end of slavery, no more than you could stop women getting the vote, no more than you can stop the end of Jim Crow segregation,’ said Harry Levine, a university professor with decades of research into the war on drugs and specifically the enforcement of marijuana prohibition. ‘This is a thing that runs counter to the fundamental functioning of a modern society. It’s immensely wasteful, it’s punitive, it’s excessive and it doesn’t make any sense,’ added Levine, a sociologist at City University of New York.  While we were waiting for U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to announce what the federal stance toward legal marijuana in Washington and Colorado will be, we’ve been checking in with various experts in marijuana and the enforcement of laws against pot.”

Jamestown Center, a medical marijuana dispensary licensed by the Arizona Department of Health Services, opened for business in Eloy, Arizona, on March 28, 2013.  It is managed and operated by pharmacists and a bio-chemist.

Las Vegas Sun:  “Five state senators and one member of the Assembly flew to Phoenix to tour a medical marijuana dispensary and a grow house before meeting with Arizona legislators to talk about the state’s new system for getting the drug to patients.”

Phoenix New Times:  “The state-regulated medical-marijuana dispensary industry that Arizona voters approved in late 2010 is becoming a reality, with three new retail shops opening this week. . . . Those four shops add to the seven already open across the state, records show.  Meanwhile, 11 others are in various stages of final approval for operating certificates by the Arizona Department of Health Services, which oversees the program.