A REAL commitment to change the 25-mile rule
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The local news stated that when and if all the dispensaries that were chosen in the recent "lottery", are opened and operating, that 98% of the population of Arizona will be within 25 miles of a dispensary. I have also heard that there are over 25,000 cardholders in Arizona who are currently "Authorized to Cultivate". Now, I don't know what type of budget you are all working with, but for someone like myself, who is on a limited budget and living pretty much day-to-day, the dispensary prices are a bit more than I can afford. After one opens up locally, I may have to go without my medication about 50%-75% of the time in order to remain within the laws. This, in turn, would force me into more physical therapy and back to the doctors office much more often, let alone the extra medications I would need to manage my pain. And what about all the money I sank into my closet grow system believing that I would be able to use it longer than 6 months or a year?? I suspect that this will end up being my own "tough luck" and I will be expected to just let that money go and write it off as the price I pay for trusting a government agency.
Another user of this very website made another valid point in the battle against the 25 mile rule that I felt was worth repeating,....
"Doesn't the AZ constitution suggest that no citizen is has to be subjected to utilizing a state run health care facility. I believe it also says that no citizen (patient in this case) will have unequal benefits to a state run program. So just because someone lives 25 miles away from a dispensary, they should not be able to have more rights than another patient with the same ailment, who is considered equal under the laws except for physical location?"
I'm sorry for not giving credit to the writer, but I lost the name in the copy. Doesn't the above statement make the 25 mile rule invalid or illegal in some way? I don't want to become rich from the sale of marijuana. I don't want to sell dope to schoolkids. I'm not a junkie and I'm not a criminal. I just want to manage my pain and try to get some sleep every once in awhile. Why should I have to jump through all of these ridiculous, and expensive hoops? Prescriptions of oxycodone and Percocet fly out the pharmacy doors every day to dozens of patients with very little regulation, and I could be imprisoned for growing 12 plants for personal use in a locked private area, or be forced to pay prices that I simply cannot afford. Why don't I deserve the same rules and/or treatment as any other medical patient? Are we as medical marijuana patients, somehow "less than" the other medical patients in this state? Are our ailments less painful or less important in some way? Why are we second class patients??
Man, I tell ya,.... I want to be, and am trying my very best to do this all "by the book" and in the most "legal" way possible, but they sure aren't making it very easy.
~Sickboy71
Another user of this very website made another valid point in the battle against the 25 mile rule that I felt was worth repeating,....
"Doesn't the AZ constitution suggest that no citizen is has to be subjected to utilizing a state run health care facility. I believe it also says that no citizen (patient in this case) will have unequal benefits to a state run program. So just because someone lives 25 miles away from a dispensary, they should not be able to have more rights than another patient with the same ailment, who is considered equal under the laws except for physical location?"
I'm sorry for not giving credit to the writer, but I lost the name in the copy. Doesn't the above statement make the 25 mile rule invalid or illegal in some way? I don't want to become rich from the sale of marijuana. I don't want to sell dope to schoolkids. I'm not a junkie and I'm not a criminal. I just want to manage my pain and try to get some sleep every once in awhile. Why should I have to jump through all of these ridiculous, and expensive hoops? Prescriptions of oxycodone and Percocet fly out the pharmacy doors every day to dozens of patients with very little regulation, and I could be imprisoned for growing 12 plants for personal use in a locked private area, or be forced to pay prices that I simply cannot afford. Why don't I deserve the same rules and/or treatment as any other medical patient? Are we as medical marijuana patients, somehow "less than" the other medical patients in this state? Are our ailments less painful or less important in some way? Why are we second class patients??
Man, I tell ya,.... I want to be, and am trying my very best to do this all "by the book" and in the most "legal" way possible, but they sure aren't making it very easy.
~Sickboy71
Chronicseeker
New Member
25 mile rule is BS and the people who say AMMA would have never passed without out it are special....
Look what has been going on for the last two+ years, the exact thing all the precious, MMJ hating conservatives did not want.
The ones who influenced this rule obviously felt like their were poised to win a dispensary and did not want average Joe to interfere with their revenue stream..
Many owners do not care about quality only quantity and home growers who know what is up give these operations and their meds a terrible name.
By eliminating personal grows and caregiver grows, patients will have to settle with garbage or really take the time to find what dispensaries offer worthwhile meds; but at what cost.
I have even been in meetings when people could not recognize the same exact strain when it was plopped on the table side by side, simply because the bud was caked/ cured properly and someone who knows how to maximize a plant's potential grew it. Just goes to show what is on the horizon...
The Arizona constitution argument would seem valid but no authority on the matter cares to hear about it. The powers at be shrug off the argument and pretend it does not exist because there will be no recourse from patients ever. As they will continue to do with any fast tracked plan to amend the 25 mile rule, it will fall on deaf ears.
Arizona has it Ass Backwards, just look at the sheer plant count a facility will need to manage the patient population and they are only allowed one facility and one dispensary agent???
FAIL...
Some people believe these individuals will be lucky to make $35k-$45k salary for busting their ass seven days a week.
Anybody who is truly skilled and knows their weight in gold, would walk away from this deal IMO.... This is marijuana, one of the largest cash crops in the world.
Bill Hayes was the only person pushing to abolish the 25 mile rule, in court, but then magically he gets popped with 900 plants...
Yeah he may not have been charged but the timing of this scenario is is too much of a coincidence and possibly sets the stage for anyone else who tries a similar tactic; the state will find your weakness and exploit it.
Stay legal.
Look what has been going on for the last two+ years, the exact thing all the precious, MMJ hating conservatives did not want.
The ones who influenced this rule obviously felt like their were poised to win a dispensary and did not want average Joe to interfere with their revenue stream..
Many owners do not care about quality only quantity and home growers who know what is up give these operations and their meds a terrible name.
By eliminating personal grows and caregiver grows, patients will have to settle with garbage or really take the time to find what dispensaries offer worthwhile meds; but at what cost.
I have even been in meetings when people could not recognize the same exact strain when it was plopped on the table side by side, simply because the bud was caked/ cured properly and someone who knows how to maximize a plant's potential grew it. Just goes to show what is on the horizon...
The Arizona constitution argument would seem valid but no authority on the matter cares to hear about it. The powers at be shrug off the argument and pretend it does not exist because there will be no recourse from patients ever. As they will continue to do with any fast tracked plan to amend the 25 mile rule, it will fall on deaf ears.
Arizona has it Ass Backwards, just look at the sheer plant count a facility will need to manage the patient population and they are only allowed one facility and one dispensary agent???
FAIL...
Some people believe these individuals will be lucky to make $35k-$45k salary for busting their ass seven days a week.
Anybody who is truly skilled and knows their weight in gold, would walk away from this deal IMO.... This is marijuana, one of the largest cash crops in the world.
Bill Hayes was the only person pushing to abolish the 25 mile rule, in court, but then magically he gets popped with 900 plants...
Yeah he may not have been charged but the timing of this scenario is is too much of a coincidence and possibly sets the stage for anyone else who tries a similar tactic; the state will find your weakness and exploit it.
Stay legal.
RottenBoy
Active Member
How long did you expect to use it? 10 years? Because I signed up in may last year, which was basically at the beginning of the program and I knew that I wasn't going to be able to use it FOREVER.. In fact im pretty sure they've made it known since day 1 about the 25 mile rule..
Of course I hate the rule as much as the next person.. but to say poor you, what about your equipment. I suggest use it while you can, then sell it to the people who will continue to use it without a card
I have been smoking for nearly 30 years. I still expect to use my aeroponic system long, LONG into the future. I grew before and I will grow in the future. However, my willingness to, or not to, obey the laws surrounding medical marijuana, have very little to do with the fairness, or, "right or wrong" factor of the 25 mile rule. Not to be a whiner, but the simple fact of the matter is that without the authorization to cultivate, there are many cardholders such as myself that will be forced to go without medication for no other reason than the location at which they reside. I guess I just feel that if they are going to let me have my medical usage rights, or priviledges, or whatever, then they should let me have them. I feel I should have the choice of growing my own medicine or paying the money at a dispensary. At the very least I think there should be some sort of "hardship" claim offered so that patients that cannot afford to go to the dispensaries, such as myself, could still get the medicine they need.
The price of my gardening equipment won't be wasted. Before medical marijuana came to this state, I managed to "self-medicate" myself fairly close to as well as the co-ops do now. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that without my medical marijuana, I would work less, spend more time in the doctors office, and spend A LOT more money and time on medication. Of course, I would always prefer to go about this the legal way. I am not a criminal. However, I have never been in agreeance with the marijuana laws, even before I started smoking it. If I end up having to "skirt" a few of them because of more unfair laws,...then so be it. Thomas Jefferson once said, "If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so."
So you see, I'm not going to lose out on the cost of equipment anyways, but it's a principal thing. I feel like we are treated as "second class" patients and this 25 mile rule is one of the biggest ways they do it.
I could just be up on a soap box ranting and raving, and I am without meds now so I know that I am a bit,...shall we say,..."pissy". I've been wrong about these things in the past from time to time. In this case, I don't think I'm the only one who feels as I do.
Sincerely,
~Sickboy71
The price of my gardening equipment won't be wasted. Before medical marijuana came to this state, I managed to "self-medicate" myself fairly close to as well as the co-ops do now. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that without my medical marijuana, I would work less, spend more time in the doctors office, and spend A LOT more money and time on medication. Of course, I would always prefer to go about this the legal way. I am not a criminal. However, I have never been in agreeance with the marijuana laws, even before I started smoking it. If I end up having to "skirt" a few of them because of more unfair laws,...then so be it. Thomas Jefferson once said, "If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so."
So you see, I'm not going to lose out on the cost of equipment anyways, but it's a principal thing. I feel like we are treated as "second class" patients and this 25 mile rule is one of the biggest ways they do it.
I could just be up on a soap box ranting and raving, and I am without meds now so I know that I am a bit,...shall we say,..."pissy". I've been wrong about these things in the past from time to time. In this case, I don't think I'm the only one who feels as I do.
Sincerely,
~Sickboy71
RottenBoy
Active Member
I completely agree with you on the unfairness of the rule. Some people say the rule is the only thing that got the law passed.
All im saying is, you and I both know, when you started growing "legally" you knew there was a chance you could get cut out of the program at any time.
SIMPLY because there were no dispensaries within 25 miles of you.
All im saying is, you and I both know, when you started growing "legally" you knew there was a chance you could get cut out of the program at any time.
SIMPLY because there were no dispensaries within 25 miles of you.
Show me one instance where home cultivation was the difference between passing a state mmj program or not smot. This is a bullshit reason based on nothing. There was no scientific polling of public opinion in regard to this matter or polling at all as a matter of fact.
RottenBoy
Active Member
Again im not against you 
Im just saying what ive read.. Some people believe that. I don't know either way.
Maybe you should do a public opinion poll and see.. But I recommend not doing it on RIU as we know how all of us would vote heh
But lets face it.. As soon as dispensaries go up, and they officially take away someone's grow rights. There will be alot of lawsuits and the 25 mile rule will be gone.
Im just saying what ive read.. Some people believe that. I don't know either way. Maybe you should do a public opinion poll and see.. But I recommend not doing it on RIU as we know how all of us would vote heh
But lets face it.. As soon as dispensaries go up, and they officially take away someone's grow rights. There will be alot of lawsuits and the 25 mile rule will be gone.
RottenBoy
Active Member
It was thrown out of court. No one has been denied the right to grow as of yet.
thecoolman
New Member
It needs to be challenged with a top attorney 10,000 patients 10 dollars each would be 100,000 dollars that might do it.
Forex Machine
Member
Hi Chronicseeker Im been reading your post and you say the state is measuring the 25 mile rule " as the crow flies" and i was wondering where did you get that information from do you have a link?
UnderBelly
Active Member
You don't need a $100,000 attorney to tell you that there isn't even a legal theory that will result in a repeal of the 25-mile rule that doesn't also risk a repeal of the entire AMMA. The 25-mile rule requires a new ballot-initiative that supersedes the AMMA. That is the only path to its removal. You can get a highly paid attorney to try to make a lawsuit any way you'd like, but the fact of the matter is, the 25-mile rule is exactly as secure as the rest of the AMMA, because it is in the letter of the law as voted on. It was a poison pill to ensure that there would be no personal cultivation in Phoenix, and I've been trying to explain that to anyone who would listen since before the 2010 election. There is no way we are getting our cultivation rights back after we lose them in 2013. I don't get the impression that very many people besides myself are particularly upset about that.
UnderBelly
Active Member
He kind of lost his high ground when he got arrested for 900 plants during this lawsuit. He sort of blew it for everyone, pretty much forever.
HB DC
Active Member
No lawyer but not true...How is there only 1 option?First mistake in Az vs. Hayes - Brought case in a federal court... Why not the Superior Courts? We will see... It will take several dispensaries to be up to "production" for all the patients in the State.. At that point is when the AzDHS will stop patients and their caregivers from cultivating!
UnderBelly
Active Member
The state does not have the authority to remove the 25-mile rule or any other language from the AMMA, for the same reason they cannot simply strike it down. It will require another ballot initiative to remove it. That's not happening. Maybe in 2014. I hope and pray I have either left this earth or at least left this state by then.