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
