Between MMJ and recreational pot, dispensary companies in the state are planning to grow two-to-three times as much marijuana in 2021, but the reality of recreational in the state remains to be seen, said Sam Richard, executive director of the Arizona Dispensaries Association. Some of the revenue growth will be due to higher prices in the initial months of recreational sales, he added. Largely, the trajectory of the growth in medical sales will likely taper off while the new combined industry reaches new frontiers, he said. Last year s 106 tons in sales is close to the weight of a fully loaded space shuttle on its way to the space station, and while the medical program is approaching cruising altitude, the industry as a whole is set to travel much further.
It was quite a night, he said. It was just about the most rewarding volunteer thing I ve ever done.
But he acknowledged that he had quickly achieved his goal: An hour into it, I looked at the medic and said, Could you just give me the vaccine now? She said sure.
Technically, the only people qualified to receive the vaccine are in groups 1A or 1B. The first group includes health care workers and nursing-home residents, but the state and Maricopa County have differed on 1B criteria. State sites vaccinate people 65 and older, K-12 educators, college employees, and law enforcement and corrections officers; county sites limit shots to people 75 and older and haven t included college employees.
But the November election in Arizona also ushered in a new era of marijuana legalization in the form of Prop 207, which makes possession of under an ounce legal, sets up a system of cannabis retail stores, and calls for the expungement of past pot convictions. One of Gunnigle s planned goals had she been elected was to have the government research whose convictions qualified under 207, then conduct a mass expungement of all those cases. A lot of people believe that, because of 207 passing, the work is done and we ve effectively reformed marijuana laws, Gunnigle told
Phoenix New Times this week. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In the latest computer-related roadblock for Arizonans seeking COVID-19 vaccinations, the state confirmed that people who weren t eligible were allowed to book appointments, taking available time slots away from those who were eligible.
Currently, vaccine distribution is in the 1a phase, with mainly health care workers getting the shot. On Monday, January 11, the state will open up appointments in the 1b phase, which includes people aged 75 and older, K-12 educators, and law enforcement officers. Appointments can be made on the state s vaccination site, podvaccine.azdhs.gov.
Following a tip on Tuesday that the site was allowing anyone to book a vaccination regardless of the criteria,
Thousands of health care workers in Maricopa County eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine were turned away in recent days by computer glitches, county health officials said in a recent letter to the state.
The December 30 letter to state Department of Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ described a multitude of problems that resulted, according to the county, from the state s failure to install a properly working vaccine management application in a timely fashion.
In one egregious example of the problems, thousands of people wanting to register in metro Phoenix were directed to go to sites as far away as Snowflake, more than 150 miles away in eastern Arizona. Some health care workers actually made the trip.