PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s public health agency has awarded more than two dozen social equity dispensary licenses under the state’s voter-approved law legalizing recreational marijuana.
Don Herrington, Arizona Department of Health Services interim director, announced in a blog post Tuesday that all 26 licenses were issued in a drawing that was live-streamed.
More than 1,500 applications had been submitted.
The licenses are potentially worth millions of dollars. They were established under a 2020 ballot measure’s provision that ensured there would be licenses for “people from communities disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of previous marijuana laws.”
The process was fraught with legal challenges.
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The Greater Phoenix Urban League and a corporation filed a lawsuit challenging the rules the state used to give out the licenses. They argued the rules lack provisions like a prohibition against license transfers and a requirement that licensees’ expenditures and profits remain in their communities.
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge rejected the lawsuit in February, saying the rules satisfy the broad mandates set by the law.
Herrington applauded Arizona’s program as a model for other states. He said the legal challenges ultimately didn’t delay the assignment of the licenses.
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