Senate Bill 1420 won’t reduce Arizona’s costly medical marijuana card fees, but it will mandate state-regulated testing for medicinal cannabis. Doug Ducey’s Arizona Department of Agriculture, the bill would allocate $2 million from the medical marijuana fund to establish the Department of Agriculture’s testing program. The 2010 Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (AMMA) was implemented through the initiative process and requires a three-fourths vote of both the House and Senate to amend. More about testing for potency and contaminants than patient affordability, SB 1420 would obligate the department of agriculture to regulate marijuana as an “agricultural commodity.” And, as an agricultural commodity, the Arizona Department of Agriculture would be accountable for the industry’s enforcement of marijuana testing, regulations, and standards. Passed by a 7-1 vote by the House Committee on Military, Veterans and Regulatory Affairs Monday, the new primary objective of SB 1420 is to protect the state’s medical marijuana patients through testing for contaminants by state-sanctioned laboratories.
Senate Bill 1420 won’t reduce Arizona’s costly medical marijuana card fees, but it will mandate state-regulated testing for medicinal cannabis.
Passed by a 7-1 vote by the House Committee on Military, Veterans and Regulatory Affairs Monday, the new primary objective of SB 1420 is to protect the state’s medical marijuana patients through testing for contaminants by state-sanctioned laboratories.
While the bipartisan legislation initially contained a provision to reduce Arizona’s card fees for patients and caregivers, the amended bill approved by the House committee eliminated the following verbiage: “The department may establish a sliding...
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