When Guam’s voters approved the Joaquin “KC” Concepcion II Compassionate Cannabis Use Act in the 2014 General Election, it joined 24 states and the District of Columbia in legalizing medical marijuana.
There are now 29 states in the U.S. where certain patients with debilitating conditions can use marijuana. Puerto Rico also legalized medical marijuana, becoming the second territory after Guam to do so.
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The Department of Public Health and Social Services consulted with officials from Arizona, where voters approved a 2010 ballot proposition legalizing medical cannabis. The state’s first dispensary opened to qualified patients in December 2012, just over two years after the initiative passed.
Department of Public Health and Social Services Director James Gillan said Guam modeled the rules and regulations after Arizona’s. Based on the attorney general’s lengthy review of the proposed rules, the health department thought they had "a tight, responsible program.”
The community felt differently.
