Prop 207 and You: What You Can and (Still) Can’t Do
Part 1: What You Can Do
Everyone knows the phrase “good news, bad news.” The good news: Prop 207 passed in Arizona, meaning marijuana is legal! The bad news? “Legal” is not a catch-all for “I can do whatever I want with it now!” Legal also doesn’t mean that everything starts immediately. Because the possible offenses you can rack up surrounding marijuana are still high (no pun intended), here’s a handy list of all the things you can do now that Prop 207 has passed, as long as you’re 21 and over:
1.) Possess Marijuana. This is the obvious one, but there are still limits. Remember how your parents told you there could be too much of a good thing? Well, our state-level guardians have determined that the threshold before “too much” is one (1) ounce. On top of that, no more than five (5) grams of that ounce can be in the form of a marijuana concentrate. While 207 frees you up to be holding, it’s more of a what-you-can-hold-with-one-hand situation. Remember: you can always buy more weed. You can’t buy your way out of jail. A.R.S. §§ 36-2852(A)
2.) Grow Marijuana. That’s right, put those quarantine gardening skills to the test! Under Prop 207, you can now grow up to six (6) marijuana plants in your house. Lucky for your Instagram followers, these plants cannot be visible to the public and they must remain indoors. If you have another person 21 or over living on your property, you can grow up to twelve (12) plants, but that’s the limit. What, did you need more than that? A.R.S. § 36- 2852(A)(2)
3.) Share Marijuana. There’s nothing in the language of Prop 207 that explicitly says “puff puff pass,” but you know they were thinking it when they added this part. Under 207, anyone 21 or over can legally give anyone else 21 or over up to 1 ounce of marijuana or up to 6 marijuana plants. Talk about sharing is caring! However, these exchanges cannot be publicly advertised and cannot involve the exchanging of money. Your friend with weed better be your friend indeed, because only friends would be this cool for free. A.R.S. § 36-2852(A)(3)-(4)
4.) Buy Marijuana-Related Equipment. Not that there was anything wrong with purchasing or owning pipes, bongs, or grow equipment before, but you knew that they knew what you were up to when you purchased these things before. Now, that stigma is gone. Under Prop 207, the purchase, possession, manufacturing, or transport of any marijuana-associated paraphernalia is now totally fine, so you can tell your boy to stop bugging that anyone’s going to know. They’re going to know, but now there’s nothing anyone can do about it. A.R.S. § 36- 2852(A)(5)
5.) Help a Brother Out. Guilt by association sucks most for the associated, but 207 frees you up to help your friends out with any of the above listed activities. As long as everyone is 21 and over, you and your friends can participate in any of the listed activities together! Remember, wear a mask, wash your hands, and stay 6 feet apart unless you’re sheltering together. There’s still a pandemic on. A.R.S. § 36- 2852(A)(6)
While all of that is extremely good news, please remember this tiny bit of bad news: there is no legal way to buy recreational marijuana… yet. The Arizona Department of Health Services isn’t set to start handing out licenses for recreational marijuana sales until January 1, 2021, and it can take up to 60 days for processing, so your legal route of purchasing recreational marijuana is still on hold until March or April. For those individuals who have their medical marijauna cards, business remains as usual. I know, I know, 3-4 more months is a long time, but the 6-12 you could serve for breaking the law to get it earlier is a lot worse. Remember, if you do find yourself on the wrong side of the law, Palestini Law is here for you 24/7 and we are well versed in all legal matters, drug-related or otherwise.
