By Steve Stockmar | Glendale Independent
Should Arizona voters decide Tuesday to approve Proposition 207 and make adult-use marijuana legal, Jiger Patel will be ready. He’s been here before.
The chief executive officer of Nature’s Medicines Dispensary, 6840 Grand Ave., in Glendale, which has sold medicinal cannabis products to patients since opening its doors in May of this year, manages dispensaries across six states, including Massachusetts and Michigan, which started originally as medicinal facilities before transitioning into adult-use per the voters.
He estimates that “70 to 80 percent” of customers in those states’ dispensaries are still medical patients, and says that after voters legalized recreational usage, even more medicinal users came forward.
“This election has seen a flood of misinformation about Prop. 207’s potential effect on the medical marijuana program. To be clear, the Smart & Safe Arizona Act would not restrict Arizonans’ rights under the medical marijuana program. Rather, registered qualifying patients would be exempt from the excise tax Prop. 207 imposes on recreational sales, its possession limits, and its potency limits for edible products. However, these patients would also stand to regain the grow rights they lost with the expansion of dispensaries’ across the state. In sum, the medical marijuana program is not going anywhere. Prop. 207 would be good for medical marijuana patients, recreational consumers, and other Arizonans who want better roads, bridges, and colleges without paying more in taxes.”
Jonathan Udell, Rose Law Group Attorney
