New Bill Could Change Arizona’s Marijuana Testing Law

A new bill introduced in Arizona aims to fix the supply shortage which started in November 2020 when mandatory testing of all medical marijuana sold at Arizona dispensaries began.

The original testing law was launched before an adequate amount of testing labs were in operation and capable of handling the massive amount of marijuana that dispensaries needed to get tested in a timely manner. This has caused shortages throughout the state, and effected medical marijuana patients‘ ability to get the medicine they need.

The new bill reads, in part, that: “If an independent third-party laboratory does not provide the test results for the usable marijuana and marijuana products for medical use to the nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary within seven business days, the independent third-party laboratory shall remit the amount paid for the test by the nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary to the department for deposit in the medical marijuana fund established by Section 36-2817. The department may use monies deposited in the medical marijuana fund pursuant to this subsection for proficiency testing as prescribed in subsection I of this section.”

In other words, if the testing labs don’t complete the testing of a marijuana sample within 7 business days then they forfeit their revenue for that test.

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AP Photo/Chris Carlson