 |
ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, First Regular Session
marijuana; clinical research trials
Purpose
Requires, rather than allows, monies in the Medical Marijuana Fund (Fund) to be used to provide grants for marijuana clinical trials and for the Arizona Biomedical Research Center (ABRC) to provide up to $5,000,000 annually from the Fund for five consecutive years to administer and award competitive grants. Contains requirements for enactment for initiatives and referendums (Proposition 105).
Background
In 2010, Arizona voters approved the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act to establish a regulatory system overseen by the Department of Health Services (DHS) that allows a dispensary to dispense a permissible amount of medical marijuana to a qualifying patient with a medical marijuana registry identification card (A.R.S. Title 36, Chapter 28.1). Fees collected from the sale of medical marijuana are deposited in the Fund before being allocated to outlined entities. The Fund consists of collected fees, civil penalties and private donations, which may be used to provide grants for marijuana clinical trials (A.R.S. § 36-2817).
Current statute requires the ABRC to provide competitive grants from monies in the Fund for marijuana clinical trials that are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug administration (FDA) for evaluating the safety and efficacy of using marijuana in humans and researching the impacts of marijuana interactions with prescription drugs, nonprescription drugs and illicit drugs. Clinical trials funded by ABRC must be: 1) conducted by Arizona-based researchers from nonprofit organizations or universities; 2) approved by the FDA, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and an institutional review board; and 3) be publishable in peer-reviewed medical and public health journals. The ABRC must prioritize funding opportunities for randomized controlled clinical trials that study the treatment of autism, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder and pain. The ABRC may provide up to $5,000,000 annually for five consecutive years from the Fund to administer and award competitive grants. The ABRC may not use more than five percent of these monies for administrative purposes (A.R.S. § 36-2822).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Requires, rather than allows, monies in the Fund to be used to provide grants for marijuana clinical trials.
2. Requires, rather than allows, the ABRC to provide up to $5,000,000 annually for five consecutive years from the Fund to administer and award competitive grants for marijuana clinical trials.
3. Makes technical changes.
4. Requires for enactment the affirmative vote of at least three-fourths of the members of each house of the Legislature (Proposition 105).
5. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
February 3, 2025
MM/AO/slp