25-Mile Rule Marijuana Growing Law Being Revised

Some medical marijuana patients outside Arizona’s metro areas should soon regain the right to grow their own marijuana.

The Arizona medical marijuana law currently states that if a medical marijuana patient lives within 25 miles of a dispensary they cannot obtain the right to grow their own marijuana. Almost all of the 56,000 medical marijuana patients in Arizona are within 25 miles of a dispensary.

Last week, judge Tammy Eigenheer rejected arguments by a Gold Canyon resident that he should be exempt from this law because while a dispensary was 8 miles as the crow flies, it was 26 miles by road. Eigenheer said that is the way the law is written. But, Will Humble, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, said this isn’t the first time this issue has been raised.

“I actually agree with them. And so we’re [the Arizona Department of Health Services] in the process right now of revising our regulations. And in those new revised regulations were going to change that definition of 25 miles to by road,” said Humble.

Humble also stated that the 25-mile rule, however measured, is justified because it honors the intent of the voters who voted for a system which requires marijuana to be handled by regulated dispensaries, complete with reporting requirements; rather than a free-for-all industry where patients can grow what they want and distribute it to others.

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