Approval rate for Arizona’s marijuana cards raises eybrows

KINGMAN, Ariz. - To say Arizona is handing out medical marijuana cards like candy might be overly generous to candy distributors.

Statistics from the Arizona Department of Health Services show better than 99 percent of those who applied were approved for the cards during the first year of the voter-approved program, which is still being implemented.

Of the almost 26,000 applications that were processed from mid-April 2011 to April 5 of this year, only 113 were rejected.

Agency Director Will Humble said his department has no authority over the applications, which are handled by the medical community.

Humble said that doctors are required to fully assess the medical needs of applicants, keep their medical records on file and explain the pros and cons of marijuana use. He said doctors who fail to meet the card-issuing protocols can be subject to professional sanction.

"The ticket into the system, the ticket to get a card really lies with the physician's certification," he said, adding that the state tracks card approval trends for evidence of abuse.

"We found a dozen or so physicians that we believed were acting unprofessionally, or maybe acting unprofessionally, and have referred them to their licensing boards," Humble said.

The high approval rate for marijuana card applications has not escaped the attention of Kingman Police Chief Bob Devries.

"We've noticed ... advertisements and different groups that have come in not just from Arizona, but from other states, that have been essentially guaranteeing cards upon payment of a $150 fee," Devries said.

In northwest Arizona, 428 cards were issued to Kingman residents, 418 to Lake Havasu City residents and 264 to residents of Bullhead City residents in the first year of application.

Statewide, statistics show that nearly 74 percent of the applications in the first year came from men of all age groups.

"It started off in the first six months that we had a higher percentage of baby boomers. That was our dominant demographic group for the first six months," Humble said. "It's kind of leveled out after that, and I think our median and mean age now is in the 40s."

In their quest for cards, Arizona applicants have reported medical conditions from cancer and glaucoma to hepatitis and HIV/AIDS. But more than 88 percent of applicants have filed under the catch-all condition of chronic pain.

"There's no doubt that severe and chronic pain is the Trojan horse," Humble said. "It's the weak point in the law in terms of keeping this thing medical. There's nothing I can do about that. It was in the voter language."