Arizona legalizes recreational marijuana

Legal sales of recreational marijuana begin in Arizona and other states.

The state Health Services Department announced it had approved 86 licenses in nine of the state’s 15 counties under provisions of the marijuana legalization measure passed by voters in November, marking the fastest transition from voter-approval to sales implementation of any state that has legalized marijuana to date. The vast majority of the licenses issued Friday were in Maricopa County, the state’s largest county that’s home to Phoenix and its suburbs, and went to existing medical marijuana dispensaries that can start selling pot right away. Other counties with dispensaries now allowed to sell recreational pot are Cochise, Coconino, Gila, Pima, Pinal, Yavapai and Yuma counties.

Regulators have been required to quickly develop rules for the market. Industry stakeholders say they’ve had productive conversations with the Department of Health Services to create those guidelines over the past few weeks.

The measure also contains several provisions aimed at addressing the harms of prohibition such as allowing individuals with prior marijuana convictions to petition the courts for expungements and establishing a social equity ownership program, which meant  Arizona prosecutors dropped thousands of marijuana possession cases after the measure was approved. Possession in the state technically became legal when the election results were certified on Nov. 30 but there was no authorized way to purchase it without a medical marijuana card.

Recreational marijuana sales are now legal in Arizona. Here is the scene at Harvest in Scottsdale that started selling recreational at around noon today. pic.twitter.com/20RW76nzij

— David Wallace (@DavidWallce) January 22, 2021

See the full list of medical cannabis dispensaries authorized to sell recreational marijuana below, per Marijuana Moment: