Medical Pot was passed in November 2010 Arizona with Prop 203, becoming the 15th US State to acknowledge its healing qualities for various debilitating medical ailments. The Arizona Department of Health Services is now assembling the Rules and regulations for its dispensing and usage.
Pot was legal until 1937 in the usa. It was commonly prescribed medicinally. The Pot Tax Act was brought before Congress in 1937, which was passed and placed a tax on the sale of cannabis. This tax equaled roughly one dollar on anyone who commercial treated pot. The ACT did not criminalize the possession or usage of pot however. The American Medical Association opposed the bill, in conflict that cannabis was not dangerous and that its healing use would be severely curtailed by prohibition. Within 4 years, medical pot was taken from the US pharmaceutical market because of the law's requirements.
In 1970, the Controlled Substances Act was passed, making Pot a Schedule 1 Narcotic. A Schedule 1 Narcotic is expected one that has a high potential for abuse, no medical use, and not safe to use under medical direction. As you will read soon in this E-Book, a lot of states disagree, and Arizona is the latest to realize marijuana's benefits medicinally.
In 1996 California became the first state to legalize medical pot. The California Thoughtful Use Act, known as Task 215, allowed patients freedom from justice with a physician's recommendation. The government went after the initiative and vulnerable to arrest medical professionals for advocating it, but a federal court decision protected medical professionals under the First Change.
Despite persistence of federal oppositions, numerous states have passed their own medical pot laws, with the latest being Arizona. Canada in addition has changed their laws with regards to medical pot as well. In 2005, the Great Court upheld the federal ban on pot but did not question the validity of the state laws. Therefore, patients are protected from state justice in the states with legal medical pot, but not federal. The DEA and Justice Department have said they don't want to follow patients, only large traffickers.
There were not many regulations put into place in California upon passing healing pot. Colorado subsequently passed it in 2000. Due to federal regulations neither state had widespread abuse of medical pot with the prospect of federal justice growing.
That all changed in 2009. Director Obama announced his administration would no longer use federal resources to go after dispensaries and patients as long as they complied with state laws. Dispensaries begun to multiply like rabbits, and within a few months patients were signing up in Colorado at a rate of 1000 per day. In Los angeles alone, medical pot dispensaries outnumber McDonald's and Starbucks by 2 to 1.
Arizona became the 15th state to legalize medical pot with Prop 203 passing in November of 2010. It was an extremely close vote that took over 11 days after the actual election to finalize the count. 1. 7 million people voted and initially the vote was 7000 votes against it, but when it was final it won by slightly over 4000 votes.