AZDHS: 31 New Dispensary Licenses Available in July 2016

The Arizona Department of Health Services (AZDHS) has announced on its website that it will “accept dispensary registration certificate applications from July 18 – July 29, 2016, following the allocation process and requirements in rules.”

31 new Arizona medical marijuana dispensary licenses are expected to be available. Currently, less than 100 out of 126 licenses have been issued and, of those, only 92 dispensaries are open and operating.

According to Arizona Dispensary Solutions, a few of the areas (or CHAAs) in Phoenix metro that will likely have dispensary licenses available are: Paradise Valley Village, North Mountain, Camelback East, Deer Valley, Surpise (including Youngtown), North Scottsdale, South Scottsdale, Maryvale and Alhambra.

There are approximately 95,000 patients in Arizona’s medical marijuana program. Nearly all patients live within 25-miles of a dispensary, which means they cannot legally cultivate marijuana and therefore must purchase it from Arizona dispensaries.

The state’s medical marijuana program was a voter-approved law established in 2010. In November of 2016, Arizonans will be voting on legalizing recreational marijuana.