Saguaro Healing LLC v. State of Arizona

Summary

The court held that the governing statute requires the Arizona Department of Health Services to issue at least one dispensary registration certificate in every county with a qualified applicant, even when doing so exceeds the usual one-in-ten ratio. Because the agency relied on earlier annual-review data and denied a certificate to the only qualified applicant in a county that lacked a dispensary during the application period, its interpretation and application of the regulation conflicted with the statute. The court vacated the appellate decision, reversed the trial court's dismissal, and remanded for further proceedings.