PHOENIX — State lawmakers are moving to finally force the Department of Health Services to spend some of the money it has to research the effects and usefulness of marijuana.
The bill moving through the Senate comes four years after the Legislature told the agency it can use some of the cash it gets from medical marijuana patients to provide $5 million competitive grants every year for five years to find out how the drug can be used.
Only thing is, the health department has given out just $5 million since that time. That has left supporters of medical marijuana frustrated.
So this past week they convinced members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee to change one word in the law: Where it has read the health department “may” give out grants, SB 1230 changes that to “shall.”
But a question remains whether there actually will be enough cash in the fund to cover the entire $25 million mandate. And at least part of the financial problem is that Arizona now permits any adult to use the drug for any reason at all.
The issue goes back to 2010 when Arizona voters narrowly agreed to allow those with certain medical conditions and a doctor’s recommendation to obtain and use the drugs. It also set up a system of legal dispensaries where those who are eligible can obtain it.
Backers argued there is at least anecdotal evidence that the drug can be effective in treating everything ranging from HIV and Hepatisis C to helping provide relief from the symptoms of chronic pain and even nausea from chemotherapy.
But A.J. Jacobs, representing Arizona NORML — the local branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws — told lawmakers the problem has been a lack of good scientific research.
Consider, he said, people dealing with PTSD, cancer patients enduring pain and parents using cannabis to help control a child’s seizure.
“Right now these Arizonans are forced to rely on anecdotal evidence and trial-and-error dosage because we don’t have state-funded, clinically validated research,” he said.
“If we’re going to have a medical marijuana program, shouldn’t we actually study the medicine?” Jacobs asked. “Shouldn’t we understand its risks and benefits, its interactions with other drugs, its recommended dosages and best-delivered methods?”
He pointed out that the state collects money from fees collected from dispensaries as well as the money that medical marijuana users have to pay to get the required state-issued card to purchase the drug.
“Patients pay into the system with the expectation that the money will be used to improve medical marijuana access, safety and research,” Jacobs said. And he said that leaving the word “may” in the law “keeps research funding on shaky grounds, subject to politics, shifting priorities and budgetary whims.”
Carly Fleege, lobbyist for the health department, acknowledged that her agency has about $20 million in the marijuana fund.
But she said that there’s a very real danger that the commitment lawmakers want — $5 million a year for five years — just is a fiscal impossibility. Put simply, she said, revenues are not expected to keep pace.
Some of it, she said, is because of previous decisions made by lawmakers.
In 2019, for example, lawmakers said that those state-issued cards that allow people to purchase medical marijuana, which cost $150, are now good for two years, effectively reducing the fees by half.
And the state offers 50% off of that for those whose income qualifies them for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps.
But the biggest shift, said Fleege, came in 2020 when voters decided that any adult should be allowed to purchase marijuana for recreational — or any — use at all.
Approved by a 3-2 margin, it allows individuals to possess up to an ounce of the drug and cultivate up to six plants at home. More to the point, there’s no need to visit a doctor for a recommendation and no fee to be paid to the state.
The shift, Fleege said, was significant.
In 2017 the state had about 173,000 medical marijuana users. As of last year that dropped to 63,000 as many medical marijuana users simply decided not to renew their state licenses.
Still, there are reasons some individuals choose to go that route.
One is cost: Medical marijuana is not subject to the 16% state excise tax. Plus those with a medical marijuana card can obtain up to 2.5 ounces in any 14-day period. And they can have up to 12 plants.
Also testifying on behalf of more — and guaranteed — funding — was Joe DeMenna, lobbying on behalf of the Scottsdale Research Institute. It is headed by Dr. Sue Sisley.
She previously was a doctor and researcher at the University of Arizona who had gotten permission from the federal Public Health Service to do research on the campus about whether marijuana could be useful to treat the symptoms of PTSD.
Shortly thereafter, the school terminated her from three separate positions, a move she blamed of political pressure from some state lawmakers.
But DeMenna conceded the point that the cash may not be there.
Sen. Kevin Payne, R-Peoria, the sponsor of SB 1230, told Capitol Media Services there may have to be a compromise.
One option, he said, would be a kind of stop-loss: If and when the marijuana account goes below a certain point, the grant dollars don’t go out that year and are renewed only when the funds are replenished. That figure, said Payne, is still being negotiated.
This isn’t Payne’s first effort to ensure there are funds to research the effects of what could be considered alternative medicine.
H/T: www.kawc.org
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