PHOENIX — Marijuana is known to cause red eyes, gales of laughter and the munchies. In Arizona, add another side effect: utter confusion, even for those who don't use it.
Voters narrowly approved a ballot initiative in November allowing medical marijuana in the state, but the result has been just the opposite of an orderly system of dispensing cannabis to the truly sick. Rather, police raids, surreptitious money transfers and unofficial pot clubs have followed passage of the law, creating a chaotic situation not far removed from the black-market system that has always existed.
"There's confusion," said Ross Taylor, who owns CannaPatient, a new company that helps patients get the medical certification required to receive state-issued medical marijuana cards. "There are a lot of unsure people, and not just because of what happened to me."
Police raided Taylor's home in June, one of several instances in which authorities in the state have showed signs of resisting implementation of the new law, which took effect at the start of the year.
Gov. Jan Brewer — who campaigned against the law, then signed it with reluctance — said in May that the state, which has issued more than 7,500 cards to medical marijuana patients, would delay issuing licenses to marijuana dispensaries, as the law requires. Instead, she filed suit in federal court seeking a ruling on whether the state's medical marijuana law conflicted with federal prohibitions on marijuana. So the patients have their cards permitting them to buy marijuana in Arizona, but no official place to do so.
The law does not permit the sale of marijuana outside of nonprofit dispensaries. But because the state has yet to approve any such outlets to sell marijuana, other ways of getting the drug are being tried.
Police last month raided the offices of a group in Tempe that was growing marijuana and selling it to card holders. Garry Ferguson, founder of the organization, Medical Marijuana Advocacy Group, told reporters that he understood the law to allow the sale of marijuana from one card holder to another.
Unofficial cannabis clubs, which are not mentioned in the law, are also emerging. They purport to offer free marijuana to card holders, albeit for a membership fee. For now, they are unregulated.
"In lieu of a regulated industry, we're now creating an environment in which patients are growing their own with limited oversight, and these private clubs of questionable legality are popping up," said Joe Yuhas of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Association, which led the medical marijuana campaign.