Arizona Lawmakers Push for State-Funded Research on Marijuana’s Medical Benefits
A new bill is making its way through the Arizona State Senate, aiming to force the Arizona Department of Health Services to allocate funds for research on the medical benefits of marijuana. The proposal comes four years after the Legislature authorized the department to provide $5 million in competitive grants annually for five years to study the drug’s potential uses.
However, the department has only disbursed $5 million since then, leaving supporters of medical marijuana frustrated. To address this issue, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee has proposed changing the law to require the department to provide the grants, rather than allowing it to do so at its discretion.
The bill’s sponsor, Senator Kevin Payne, acknowledges that there may need to be a compromise due to concerns about the availability of funds. One possible solution is to implement a “stop-loss” mechanism, where grant funding would be suspended if the marijuana account falls below a certain level, and would only be reinstated when the funds are replenished.
The push for state-funded research on marijuana’s medical benefits is driven by concerns about the lack of scientific evidence supporting its use. A.J. Jacobs, representing Arizona NORML, the local branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, argued that the state’s medical marijuana program is based on anecdotal evidence and trial-and-error dosing, rather than clinically validated research.
The state collects money from fees collected from dispensaries and medical marijuana users, and Jacobs believes that patients have a right to expect that this money will be used to improve medical marijuana access, safety, and research. Carly Fleege, a lobbyist for the health department, acknowledged that the agency has about $20 million in the marijuana fund, but warned that the commitment to provide $5 million annually for five years may be a fiscal impossibility due to declining revenues.
The issue is further complicated by the 2020 voter-approved initiative that legalized recreational marijuana use for adults, which has led to a decline in the number of medical marijuana users. Despite this, some individuals still choose to obtain a medical marijuana card due to the cost savings and increased access to the drug.
