The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, issued a statement Thursday praising AZDHS for changing language in the documents that allowed for potential licensees to “flip” their license to an outside buyer. Before the change, there was concern from applicants and advocates that potential licensees could enter into agreements to sell their licenses to individuals with deep pockets or to established marijuana consortiums.
Brown said the department could have gone further. She said she would have liked to see more restrictive language about what potential licensees could do. Under the final rules, there is no restriction on when licensees can sell their rights. Licensees can theoretically sell those rights immediately.
“If they are going to be transferable, then one, it should be a longer time period that you have to hold on to them,” Simone Brown said. “And then secondly, if you are going to transfer a sale, that it should only be to another social equity applicant.”
Brown and NORML also were critical of AZDHS not extending the period for potential applicants with eligible marijuana-related convictions or arrests to have them be expunged from their records, an argument tied into the departments release of eligible ZIP codes for applicants last week.
Even if an applicant were to apply for expungement now, with the average turnaround time of two months to be processed by the courts, they would likely miss the AZDHS-set application period of Dec. 1 to Dec. 14, according to NORML.
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