SHOW LOW – The area’s marijuana industry continues to grow, and The Independent provides an update below:
The Green Hills Patient Center in Show Low partnered with famous marijuana advocacy group Arizona NORML to run a clinic in their patient center building last Sunday. The purpose of the clinic was to help those convicted of simple marijuana possession in the past to clear these records. The simple possession of “flowers” up to an ounce is no longer illegal in Arizona after the voters in November 2020 passed Proposition 207 by a wide margin. It used to be a crime. The limit for medical marijuana card holders is two ounces. The proposal included a provision that would allow those with such convictions to clear their records of the conviction by asking the Arizona Supreme Court to order. There is a Superior Court in Arizona, one in each county in the state.
The clinic invited people to learn this. An estimated fifty people showed up at the clinic on Sunday, according to Jon Udell, Arizona NORML communications director and cannabis attorney at Rose Law Group
Additionally, the organization’s political director, Julie Gunnigle, a licensed attorney, told the Independent that her organization estimates her organization has such a record of between a quarter and a half million people in the state, and the organization is trying to drastically increase that statistic to reduce.
New farms have sprung up elsewhere. The town of Snowflake is known to be home to the Copperstate-operated farm, which is in the process of doubling the number of greenhouses from 40 to 80, making it the largest “indoor” grower in the state. Less well known is the smaller farm called Mountain Time, which KompoCare reportedly receives products from for sale at its Taylor pharmacy. Kompo was recently sold to an Illinois company that, according to sources, is still planning to move to Show Low in the next few months. Earlier inquiries to Kompo about this went unanswered.
A former community official, who chose not to be named, reports that Navajo County was reluctant to license this farm so that it was within the Snowflake city limits. It should be noted that the City Council squashed permission to use the Copperstate facility by three to four votes. The same former official told the Independent that locals are joking about a “golden green triangle” that is forming in the area.
For example, it became known that two growers are in the works in Holbrook. One is operated by a company called Cura Leaf, which, according to their website, has a presence in 23 states, most of them pharmacies. The company lists a cultivation facility in Holbrook, near I-40 east of Holbrook. The old Budweiser distribution building is also located in Holbrook on Hopi Drive and an extension is to be in the works on the site, the operator of which is not yet known.
In Winslow, parent company Verrano Holdings, LLC announced an agreement in February that it would acquire three active pharmacies in the Valley and an 11,000-square-foot indoor grow facility and 8,100-square-foot greenhouse in Winslow, according to an article on Investors Verrano. com. The agreement was closed this spring, sources say and a wholly owned subsidiary, Verrano Arizona Holdings, LLC, will operate the facility. Both Verrano in Winslow and CuraLeaf in Holbrook have reportedly announced job opportunities.
Both CuraLeaf and Verano or their affiliates are reportedly listed on a Canadian stock exchange, allegedly because marijuana is still an illegal substance in the United States
Finally, in Apache County, the Springerville City Planning and Zoning Commission will take up the city’s problem to issue an ordinance allowing the sale of “adult marijuana” or recreational marijuana. According to city clerk Kelsi Miller, the matter is scheduled for August 24th. The local smoke shop won an opportunity to acquire a pharmacy license through a lottery run by the Arizona Department of Health, but as of April the license has been labeled “not in use” by the AHDS.
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