Aiming for legitimacy

In a very different kind of Memorial Day deal, a Phoenix business celebrated its grand opening by giving veterans deep discounts.

On medical marijuana.

Phoenix Relief Center, a medical-marijuana dispensary tucked into a shopping center at 35th and Southern avenues, sold marijuana to former servicemen and -women at a discount — 20 percent off — and gave away free pot cigarettes to treat illnesses and pain. Dozens of veterans with cancer, chronic pain and other illnesses have since flocked to the center for one-eighth-ounce bags of Tokyo OG, Hawaii Five-0 and other strains of marijuana.

“We didn’t want to focus our grand opening on ‘Hey, look at us, we’re open, and we want business,’ ” said Patrick Romo, a principal officer and Phoenix Relief Center board member. “We wanted to say, ‘Hey, we’re open, and we’re here to serve the community.’ ”

The dispensary’s strategy to market to veterans and the broader community illustrates an effort among dispensary operators, patients and others in the medical-marijuana industry to shake the stigma associated with medical cannabis and gain mainstream legitimacy.

Read more: Aiming for legitimacy

Arizona groups sue over pot-dispensary deadline

Eleven Arizona non-profit corporations are suing the state, seeking additional time to open medical-marijuana dispensaries.

Last August, the state Department of Health Services randomly selected the non-profits to receive the dispensary-registration certificates required to operate dispensaries. Under state rules, each has one year to then qualify for a certificate to operate. They had a year to obtain “approval to operate” certificates or permanently lose the authorization to open a dispensary.

In a lawsuit filed last week in Maricopa County Superior Court, the groups are asking a judge to order state officials to give them more time to get up and running.

The groups argue that a separate lawsuit involving the White Mountain Health Center medical-marijuana dispensary had a “chilling effect” on other potential dispensary owners. That case centered on zoning documentation for the Sun City dispensary and grew to encompass a larger question of whether federal drug laws pre-empt the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act.

A Superior Court judge ruled in December that the state law is constitutional and that the county must make a zoning decision about White Mountain Health Center. County Attorney Bill Montgomery is awaiting a hearing before the Arizona Court of Appeals.

Read more: Arizona groups sue over pot-dispensary deadline