NEVER MIND THE SMOKE, GET TO FACTS

Though it took extra time to untangle all of the close votes on Prop.
203, the state is forging ahead on the application and regulation of
its new medicinal marijuana law. Like the vote's result itself, it
won't be easy but the end result is what will count.

The Associated Press reported Sunday that potential marijuana
dispensaries are lining up - quite literally. The state is expecting
thousands of applications for 124 spots approved statewide. The
political rancor will lower a notch since the measure is already law,
but misinformation and distortion will still be among the critics'
munitions. And, let's be honest, exploitation will be in high demand
among some supporters looking to find cracks in what admittedly is a
less than perfect law.

First, the exploiters. Any government program comes with the law of
unintended consequences - in this case, people motivated to bend the
statute and, let's face it, score themselves some weed. The system
voters OK'd isn't flawless, but neither were the current laws; i.e.,
the outlawing of medicinal marijuana, which is endorsed by the
American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the American Academy of Family
Physicians, the American Nurses Association, and more.

Second, the critics. As the state begins the process of regulating
dispensaries, we'll continue to hear from the opposition. Opinion is
one thing; untruths are quite another. Yavapai County Sheriff Steve
Waugh warned prior to the election that we'll see "bodies lying in the
highway" should the measure pass. The chair of Keep AZ Drug Free told
the AP that "marijuana is not a medicine."

Semantics aside, it does have medicinal value, the same as cancer,
glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and Alzheimer's are very real to the
afflicted. Resistance to marijuana's medicinal value only undermines
the healing potential the drug possesses. Don't even get us started on
the hypocrisy of supporting other far more dangerous - and legal -
pharmaceuticals, which include the awful side effects we all snicker
at as disclaimers on ads, black market economies, and hazardous
accessibility to kids.

The Arizona Department of Health Services - which opposed Prop. 203 -
has less than 90 days to set up procedures for dispensing pot and to
develop an electronic database to track records.

If we're all going to do this, let's focus on doing it cooperatively.