The state’s top health official is weighing new regulations to ensure that users of medical marijuana snacks and drinks know when to stop.

The same well-funded, national organization that ushered Arizona’s medical marijuana law onto the books in 2010 already plans to return for a 2016 full-legalization effort. But that just isn’t soon enough for some local activists.

The House Ways and Means Committee on Monday did not to vote on a proposed 300 percent tax on medical marijuana in Arizona, opting instead to further investigate what effects such a tax could have.

The first wave of patients to take advantage of Arizona’s new medical marijuana law may be compelled to apply for home-growing operations because the drug will not be available in licensed dispensaries until late summer, opening the door for thousands of household marijuana gardens.

The next state general election will not occur until November, but backers of a ballot proposal to legalize the use of medical marijuana in Arizona claim to be well on their way to qualifying the measure for the 2010 ballot.

“Thousands of patients across Arizona are already using medical marijuana with their doctor’s recommendation. These patients shouldn’t have to risk arrest and jail just for following their doctor’s advice.” — Andrew Myers, a campaign manager for the Arizona Medical Marijuana ...