HAZY FUTURE FOR MEDICINAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY

Jars filled with a green, leafy substance line the display case of a
Phoenix medicinal marijuana dispensary.

The green, leafy substance, however, is actually peat moss, and this
dispensary is not yet able to distribute medicinal marijuana, said
Allan Sobol, the manager of the store and Medical Marijuana
Dispensaries of Arizona, a nonprofit group that supports medicinal marijuana.

The future of medicinal marijuana, and the dispensary that hopes to
sell it, is still uncertain in Arizona with preliminary results of
Proposition 203 showing a less than 1 percent margin separating the
measure from defeat or passage.

Sobol, who is also one of the owners of Marijuana Marketing
Strategies, a group that hopes to change the stereotypical image of
marijuana dispensaries for Arizona, said he and other supporters of
the measure were surprised by the closeness of the race.

"Right now, it's not looking good," he said.

There are still several thousand ballots to be counted, and the gap
is currently less than 4,000 votes, according to the Secretary of
State's website.

Sobol said if the measure is defeated, the group will move on to one
of several other states that will be voting on similar measures in
the coming years.

Other states with pending medicinal marijuana legislation include
Illinois, Massachusetts and New York, according to the public policy
website ProCon.org.

"We can move everything in here except the carpet on the floor and
the paint on the walls," Sobol said. "So we'll just take it on the
road to another state."

He said for now, if the measure is defeated, he and his marketing
firm will skip over Arizona.

"They'll probably put it back on the ballot in a couple years," Sobol
said. "We'll be here when they do."

Sobol said if the law fails to pass, he will move on, but the people
with severe medical conditions, like multiple sclerosis and glaucoma,
would continue to suffer.

The pain associated with these conditions is treated with pain
relievers that are often opiate-based. Supporters of medicinal
marijuana say these medications are more dangerous than a natural
pain reliever that they have to obtain through criminal means.

"What I'm really upset about is the tens of thousands of people
across the state who will have to continue to deal with these
medications and who may have to commit crimes," Sobol said. "I really
feel bad for them, I truly do."

Arizona must deliver a final count of votes by Nov. 12. ASU
journalism professor Steve Elliott said media outlets are not going
to call the results because the margin is so close.

"However it goes, this one is close enough that there's really no
margin for a news organization in calling it until every vote has
been counted or there are so few ballots out there that there's no
math possible that can provide a comeback," Elliott said.

There are still about 374,000 ballots to be counted, including early
and provisional ballots, Elliott said.

The Election Day tally leaned conservative, and the early and
provisional ballots that remain to be counted will be similar to
those results. Elliott said by looking at the number of votes the
measure still needs, his informal prediction is that its passage is unlikely.

"I just don't see a 7,000-vote swing out there, but there's always a
chance," Elliott said in an e-mail.

Ballots still need to be counted in Maricopa and Pima counties.
Elliott said the Pima County votes will come in first and shorten the
gap, but the Maricopa County votes, which tend to be more
conservative, will reverse that momentum.

Early Wednesday, the margin was about 1 percent, or 7,000 votes. By
the end of the day, the gap had lessened to about 4,000 votes.

Nursing junior Jesus Nava said the loose restrictions on
prescriptions in states like California should not have been a factor
in this election.

"If it is regulated and it is for a purpose and it is strictly
enforced, then why not?" Nava said.

Kinesiology junior Hal Veatch said a commercial he had seen where a
little girl is run over by people high on marijuana was not an
accurate depiction of smokers.

"I'm not a smoker, but I know a lot of people that smoke," he said.
"It's OK as long as it's being used for a purpose and doesn't harm people."