Arizona, 15th point out with legal pot, sees leisure sales

Legal product sales of leisure cannabis in Arizona began on Friday, a as soon as-unthinkable step in the previous conservative stronghold

PHOENIX — Legal product sales of leisure cannabis in Arizona begun on Friday, a at the time-unthinkable move in the previous conservative stronghold that joins 14 other states that have broadly legalized pot.

The state Wellness Providers Office on Friday introduced it had authorised 86 licenses in 9 of the state’s 15 counties underneath provisions of the cannabis legalization evaluate passed by voters in November. Most of the licenses went to existing clinical cannabis dispensaries that can begin selling pot suitable away.

“It’s an interesting phase for these that want to participate in that software,” reported Dr. Cara Christ, Arizona’s point out overall health director, on Friday.

Less than the phrases of Proposition 207, individuals 21 and older can expand their individual plants and lawfully have up to an ounce (28 grams) of cannabis or a more compact quantity of “concentrates” this sort of as hashish. Possession of involving 1 ounce and 2.5 ounces (70 grams) is a petty offense carrying a highest $300 wonderful.

The march toward decriminalization in the Sunshine Belt condition was very long. Acceptance of the legalization measure arrived 4 a long time after Arizona voters narrowly defeated a identical proposal, even though clinical marijuana has been legal in the condition due to the fact 2010.

The initiative confronted stiff opposition from Republican Gov. Doug Ducey and GOP leaders in the state Legislature, but 60% of the state’s voters in the November election authorised it.

The vote on marijuana mirrored greater developments at play during the historic election that saw Democrat Joe Biden flip the longtime Republican state in which political giants consist of five-phrase conservative senator Barry Goldwater and the late GOP Sen. John McCain.

Shifting demographics, like a fast-developing Latino populace and a flood of new residents, have designed the condition friendlier to Democrats.

The leisure pot measure was backed by advocates for the legal marijuana marketplace and criminal justice reform advocates who argued that the state’s severe marijuana legal guidelines were being out of action with the nation. Arizona was the only point out in the state that still authorized a felony cost for initially-time possession of compact quantities of cannabis, while most scenarios have been prosecuted as lower-stage misdemeanors.

The wide the vast majority of the licenses issued Friday ended up in Maricopa County, the state’s greatest county that’s household to Phoenix and its suburbs. Other counties with dispensaries now allowed to market leisure pot are Cochise, Coconino, Gila, Pima, Pinal, Yavapai and Yuma counties.

Voters in New Jersey, South Dakota and Montana also authorized making possession of leisure cannabis legal last November.

Arizona prosecutors dropped countless numbers of cannabis possession conditions after the evaluate was authorized. Possession in the point out technically turned lawful when the election effects had been accredited on Nov. 30 but there was no approved way to buy it devoid of a medical cannabis card.

Voters in November dealt a different blow to Republicans in command of the state’s ability levers when they accepted a new tax on high earners to boost schooling funding, a move that arrived after years of GOP tax cuts and the underfunding of community educational facilities.