PHOENIX - Some are watching a battle over a proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries in California, wondering what might happen in Arizona should voters pass the medical marijuana initiative this November.
“A lot of people's concerns are about California and how it implemented its law. California basically has more dispensaries, in the city of Los Angeles, than they have Starbucks,” said attorney Bill Knowlton of Rose Law Group.
The firm Knowlton works for isn’t taking a stance on either side of the debate.
What they did do is help us understand what will happen if voters pass the medical marijuana initiative this November.
Knowlton said Arizona’s medical marijuana is very different from what California passed.
The law only allows 120 dispensaries for the entire state, “and those have to be equally distributed amongst all the population centers in the state.”
Knowlton added, “If you are 25 miles away from the closest dispensary you can get a permit to grow your own,” as long as you meet the requirement of a doctor’s prescription.
You will not be allowed to smoke in public or drive after smoking.
Knowlton said the regulations should help “prevent a lot of the problems California is having.”
Supporters of medical marijuana rallied on the streets of Tucson, at Dodge and Grant, Saturday afternoon.
Members of the group "AZ 4 NORML" dressed in costume and waved signs at motorists urging support of a referendum in November that would legalize medical marijuana.
"What this law will do is regulate it, keep it out of the hands of people who don't need it and people who are using it for serious, serious ailments," said one backer. It's a medical marijuana law and I hope everybody will support that."
If the measure is approved by voters, it would allow medical marijuana to be sold at highly regulated clinics. It would require individuals to obtain an ID card to buy medical marijuana and it would allow some people to grow their own marijuana if they don't live within 25 miles of a marijuana clinic.
Authorities say a 94-year-old Mexican woman has been arrested for trying to smuggle more than 10 pounds of marijuana across the border into Arizona.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers say the woman from Nogales, Sonora, was attempting to cross the border Tuesday for a day of shopping.
But an officer became suspicious and referred her for further inspection. That's when authorities say they found 10½ pounds of marijuana strapped to the woman's body from her torso to her legs.
Officials say the six bundles of seized marijuana had an estimated street value of about $5,000. The elderly woman was not identified and was turned over to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Authorities say a 94-year-old Mexican woman has been arrested for trying to smuggle more than 
