Legalizing recreational marijuana and establishing a 15 percent tax on it could bring Arizona $113 million in new revenue, according to a study by the non-partisan group Tax Foundation. 

The Arizona study is based on sales per capita in Colorado and Washington—both states legalized weed four years ago.

The study says that if all 50 states enforce retail taxes on marijuana, the country could see a revenue of $5.3 billion if taxed at 15 percent, or as high as $8 billion if it's taxed at 25 percent, according to an article on The Arizona Republic.

In Arizona, a "mature" marijuana industry could raise $113 million every year if weed is taxed at 15 percent; $150 million if taxed at 20 percent; and $188 million if taxed at 25 percent, the study says, according to The Arizona Republic.

The study cautioned officials to not overestimate tax revenue from legalizing the drug, saying revenues started out slowly in Colorado and Washington as their legalization programs and regulatory systems took shape.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which is backed by the Washington D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, wants to legalize recreational use of weed for adults 21 and over, green light home cultivation of six plants per adult but a limit of 12 per household, allow possession of up to 1 ounce, as well as make available up to 160 licenses for weed retailers. This measure asks to enact a 15 percent tax on retail marijuana sale. The group proposes using the revenue to fund schools maintenance, operation, full-day kindergarten programs, as well as substance abuse awareness programs. (Get to know CRMLA's initiative here.) The campaign has gathered more than 200,000 signatures. 

The second contender, Arizonans for Mindful Regulation, also would legalize marijuana use, possession and cultivation for adults 21 and over. An adult would be allowed to posses 1 ounce of weed and no more than 5 grams in concentrated marijuana, such as oils. Also, an adult could grow 12 plants at home, without a limit on the amount of weed plants that can be cultivated per household, as long as it is under 99. The taxation is set at 10 percent. (Here's more info on their initiative.) Last time I spoke with the AZFMR guys at the end of March, they said they had gathered more than 100,000 signatures. 

Both initiatives need at least 150,642 signatures by July 7 to make the November ballot. 

The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Thursday an amendment that would allow Veterans Affairs doctors to recommend medical marijuana to patients in states where using medicinal cannabis is legal—like Arizona.

The amendment was attached to a military appropriations bill. The Senate approved a similar amendment in a spending bill that would go into effect in 2017, according to The Huffington Post. 

The Veterans Equal Access Amendment, introduced by U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat from Oregon, and co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, strikes down a Department of Veterans Affairs prohibition on VA doctors recommending medical marijuana as treatment for veterans who have chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other conditions, the HuffPost writes.

Under current regulations, veterans had to seek these recommendations outside of the VA system and pay out of pocket for the related expenses. 

Have you noticed the Mother's Day-themed marijuana billboard on South Sixth Avenue, yet?

The Marijuana Policy Project-backed Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which is one of two groups leading efforts to legalize recreational weed in Arizona this year (the other one is Arizonans for Mindful Regulation), launched the sign on Tuesday at 3640 S. 6th Ave., across the street from Southern Arizona Veterans Affairs.

The ad is meant to persuade younger voters into talking to their parents, grandparents and older adults about marijuana and the benefits of legalization, according to a CRMLA press release. There is another billboard like this up in Phoenix.

The ads, which are targeted at younger voters, feature a young woman sitting with her mother and ask: “Have you talked to your parents about marijuana?” The goal of the ads is to flip the script on marijuana education and encourage younger voters to start conversations about marijuana with their family members—especially older generations who have been led to believe marijuana is more harmful than it actually is. 

The website that's pointed out on the ad, TalkItUpArizona.org, leads you to a page where you can send your parents (or any family member, really) a message explaining why older voters' support for legalization is important. 

Medical Marijuana patients, listen up! When it comes to filling your MMJ needs, Tucson has a lot of options. We're always hearing anecdotal comments about "The Best" products and dispensaries, and we decided to put the whole thing to a vote. 

Tells us about the providers and products that take the edge off your migraines and help make living with illness a little bit easier.

Voting ends at the end of the day next Thursday, March 31. Vote here! 

If more states get on board with legalizing recreational and medical marijuana, the weed industry could have an impact of up to $44 billion in the  U.S. economy by 2020, according to a report by the Marijuana Business Daily.

In 2016, the industry is estimated to contribute between $14 and $17 billion. Four years form now, marijuana could fuel between $24 and $44 billion into the economy, the report says.

The figures come from the industry's overall contribution, such as licensing fees, tax revenue, and retail sales.

The projections reflect marijuana’s march towards the mainstream as it emerges from the shadows to become a respectable, above-board industry that is giving birth to scores of jobs, fostering new business opportunities and creating a broad ripple effect across the country.

“We’re witnessing the emergence of a business that is about to become a massive economic force,” said Chris Walsh, managing editor of Marijuana Business Daily. “These figures, which we deem conservative, show not only how important the industry already is to the U.S economy at large, but also how much more important it is about to become.”

This election cycle, Arizona, California, and Nevada are among the handful of states that could vote to legalize recreational weed, while Ohio voters will decide the fate of medical cannabis in the state.

Colorado and Washington state legalized weed in 2012. Alaska, Oregon and D.C. legalized it in 2014.

Here at Tucson Weekly, we talk about weed news a lot (see here and here). Now, it's time for our MMJ-card-carrying readers to tell us—and the rest of the city—what they think about the local cannabis scene.

Editor Mari Herreras puts it like this:

Medical marijuana patients we talk to never hesitate to tell us about that special dispensary where they get the best deal or have the best edibles.

You love your pot providers and you love that certain strain that either takes care of the migraines or helps stimulate your appetite while battling a serious illness you refuse to get you down.

This is your chance to unite and tell fellow patients and other Tucsonans where the best MMJ products (and everything else weed related) are in the Old Pueblo.

Welcome to the Tucson Weedly Cannabis Bowl. You have until March 31. Results will be printed in our 2016 420 Cannabis issue on Thursday, April 14. Get smoke, er, cracking.

So, MMJ patients, go vote! You've got until the end of March. 

It's going to get a lot easier for medical marijuana dispensaries in Tucson to expand thanks to three zoning amendments the City Council passed Tuesday evening.

Here's the good news:

Outdoor cultivation of medical weed is now allowed in industrial zones in accordance with state law. The Arizona Medical Marijuana Act says that outdoor growing is good to go only if the area is surrounded by 10-foot walls made of metal, concrete or stone that prevent outsiders from seeing the marijuana plants. 

Dispensary owners have said that adding more cultivation space helps keep up the demand of patients. Many in Tucson get marijuana shipped from Phoenix, because they run out of product quickly.

Off-site cultivation sites in commercial areas are now allowed to grow to up to 4,000-square feet, which is 1,000 more than the previous restriction. And, thirdly, existing dispensaries can expand within 500 feet from "sensitive areas," which include schools, parks and libraries. The old rule said dispensaries needed to stay back at least 1,000 feet, even if a school or another so-called sensitive place opened after the dispensary was established.

At least a handful of medical marijuana dispensaries in Tucson realized their Facebook pages had been deleted today by the social media site, according to the Daily Haze. Facebook claims they banned the pages because the company does not allow any material that "condones drug use."

The Haze spoke to Tucson's Earth's Healing's marketing director, Florence Hijazi:

Florence, from Earth’s Healing, said it damages the business, as their patients do check the centers Facebook page every day for different specials and other updates from the center. In response to being deleted by Facebook, Earth’s Healing plans to put more focus towards their Twitter account and their phone app.

The move isn't exclusive to Tucson—there were pages deleted around the country, and dispensary owners seemed to be getting the same justification from Facebook, the Haze says. 

“Your page is currently not visible on Facebook. It looks like content on your page does not follow the Facebook Community Terms and Standards.”

“The site does not allow ads that promote the sale or use of . . .illegal, prescription, or recreational drugs.”

The trend began back in 2014, when Instagram "heavily" deleted marijuana-themed accounts. 

The Haze says that in January 2014, Tim Rathschmidt, a spokesperson for Facebook, told the Huffington Post:

“The legality around the sale and use of marijuana greatly varies around the world, which is part of the reason why we strictly prohibit the promotion of the sale and use of the drug itself. The risk of attempting to allow ads promoting the drug in certain states or countries where it is legal is too high for us to consider at this time. However, we work pretty hard to differentiate ads promoting the sale or use of the drug versus ads promoting advocacy or the legalization of the drug. The latter is the type of content we do not want to censor through ads, and is widely considered different than something promoting the actual drug itself.”

And, last year the San Francisco Chronicle reported that medical marijuana businesses were banned from iTunes, Facebook, as well as Instagram.

The SF Chronicle received a statement from a spokesperson for Facebook and Instagram that read, “guidelines do not allow the promotion of the sale of illegal content. Once something is reported to us our teams review it, will remove it if it violations those policies, and in some cases we will disable the account.”

But, medical marijuana is legal in 23 states, as well as D.C., so why is Facebook using that card to ban dispensaries that are obviously located in states where medicinal weed is allowed? In fact, Facebook's home state, California, could even legalize recreational marijuana this year.

We'll keep you updated as we hear more about the situation.

Ron Johnson, the founder of the 420 Social Club on Fourth Avenue, finally got his day in front of a judge this week to decide if a complaint he filed, bringing much-needed local attention to the controversial law enforcement practice of civil forfeiture, had legal standing.

After his one-hour testimony Monday afternoon, a Pima County Superior Court judge ultimately denied Johnson's motion, even though the judge recognized that he was a victim, and that the belongings Tucson Police Department agents confiscated from his home should be returned, Johnson says. Problem with that is, the jewelry and computer that were taken from him were destroyed, he says. And the thousands of dollars...well, by now, they have been absorbed into a law enforcement agency.

"These people agreed to return everything, and did not return a single thing," he says, referring to the situation he's been dealing with for the past three years as an episode of the Twilight Zone. 

I wrote about Johnson's case in April 2015 for the story Legal Theft Part I (and Part II):

On a May evening about two years ago, Ron Johnson claims he woke up to someone banging at his front door. He dragged himself out of bed and opened up. Before he could even ask what was going on, a Tucson Police officer handcuffed and shoved him in the back of a patrol car for the next six hours.

Two days prior, he had suffered a heart attack and was trying to recover at home. While in custody, he says he repeatedly told officers he did not feel good, but any request for medical attention was ignored.

Johnson's home on Fourth Avenue quickly flooded with other officers who, without a warrant, probable cause or Johnson's permission, drilled through his safe, took money, tens of thousands of dollars in jewelry, his computer, all of his medical marijuana and the five plants he cultivated, as well as pot paraphernalia.

They also confiscated his heart and blood pressure prescription medication and, down the road, tried to seize his home.

The cops alleged he didn't have his medical marijuana card, making his plants an "illegal grow operation."

"What they are doing is robbing people and it is a problem nationwide," he says. Johnson is the founder of the 420 Social Club, a house where medical marijuana patients can go to hang out and medicate. (The house the city tried to take.) "They kept the money, the jewelry, and they told me I wasn't getting any of the paraphernalia back or the plants. They don't have to find you guilty of anything. They just come in and take your things. They were trying to say that this is a criminal house."

A report that evaluates medical marijuana programs nationwide says Arizona is doing pretty well in protecting the rights of medicinal weed patients, as well as giving patients easy access to their medicine.

However, according to the patient-input-based analysis by the Washington-based nonprofit Americans for Safe Access, Arizona is in the dumps when it comes to product safety rules, meaning regulations, such as comprehensive marijuana testing protocols aren't yet in place.

The nonprofit surprisingly gave the state an overall grade of B-, largely because the report finds that Arizona protects its medical marijuana patients from issues like DUIs and other arrests. In terms of DUIs, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled in November 2015 that medical marijuana patients suspected of driving under the influence must prove that the amount of active THC in their system is not enough to cause impairment—which critics say is quiet harsh.

The analysis also gives the state kudos for having a decent number of dispensaries in place (there are more than 80 throughout), allowing patients to grow their own weed (only people who live more than 25 miles away from a dispensaries have this right), and having reasonable guidelines for qualifying conditions—even though the Arizona Department of Health Services was pressured by a judge to add post-traumatic stress disorder to the Medical Marijuana Act two years ago, and refused to add eight new conditions, which included brain injury and diabetes, last year.

Read the whole report here.