By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Daily Star
Beginning Dec. 1, medical marijuana users will either have to show an image of their ID from a smartphone or from a printed copy of an email to purchase the drug.
The current medical marijuana card, shown above, will be replaced by an email image that can be downloaded to a smartphone.
Arizona’s medical marijuana program is going high tech, sort of.
Beginning Dec. 1, the state will stop issuing actual cards to those who are authorized to buy the drug, the cards that dispensary owners must see before they make a sale. Instead, new and renewed cards will be sent off as an email image.
The idea is that the image can be downloaded to a smartphone and displayed to a shop owner who can scan it and instantly verify if the person is permitted to buy the drug. And those who are more comfortable with a tangible document can print out the email.
But that still leaves the question of what happens to those who might be considered digitally impaired, who don’t have a cellphone and may not have access to both a computer and a printer.
