Judge Upholds Limits on Arizona Home Grows

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Arizona medical marijuana dispensaries won’t have to worry about competition from home growers, at least for now.

A superior court judge has upheld a controversial section of the state’s medical marijuana law that bars most residents from growing their own cannabis.

Under the 2010 Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, only patients who live more than 25 miles from a licensed MMJ center can grow their own cannabis. All others must buy it from dispensaries, giving these operations almost total control of the market.

Dozens of dispensaries have opened up in Arizona over the past year, and now the lion’s share of the state’s 40,000 registered patients live within 25 miles of one.

Two men filed a lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court challenging the home-grow provision, arguing that it limits their health care rights and violates language in the state’s Constitution.

The judge overseeing the case, however, ruled that Arizona’s medical marijuana act is not a compulsory program and that dispensaries are not “a health-care system.”