Arizona’s Pot Social Equity Rules Still Allow for Quick Sale of Licenses – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

The state published new draft rules for the voter-mandated marijuana social equity program last week that expand eligibility requirements for Arizona’s remaining 26 dispensary licenses.

Representatives of a coalition of several pro-cannabis groups trying to influence the state’s creation of the program say they like this version better than the first, but that it still contains the potentially fatal flaw of allowing people who obtain the licenses to immediately sell them. The licenses are worth millions apiece.

Despite the many changes in the latest draft, the coalition is sticking with its previous assessment that the program, which aims to set aside licenses for communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs, is “designed to fail,” said Julie Gunnigle, director of politics for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws of Arizona.

“We’re creating extremely lucrative lottery tickets,” she said. “The number of folks who win the lottery and sell immediately is going to be astronomical.”

(Applicants will need to cough up a nonrefundable $5,000 to enter the contest, which will take place in mid-December. No lottery will occur if there are fewer than 26 applicants for the 26 available social equity dispensary licenses. But Gunnigle said that with each license worth an estimated $7-10 million or more on the open market, the number of applicants expected is “well into the thousands.”)

Last month, 355 applicants applied for 13 standard…