Claiming the state is hoarding funds, two medical marijuana users want a judge to reduce the annual charge for the legally required registration cards.
In legal filings, Steven White, the attorney for Yolanda Daniels and Lisa Becker, pointed out the Department of Health Services collected $2.6 million more in fees last year from patients and dispensaries than it actually took to run the program.
White contends the state is overcharging.
"There is very little expense that the state bears associated with the patients and caregivers. What they do is they take the certifications from doctors," White said. "They do a review of those. And then they issue a card, an identification card."
Will Humble was state health director at the time the voters approved medical marijuana law.
He explained how the yearly fee was set at $150.
"It was based on about 20,000, 25,000 patients," Humble said. "But as you know it's now at 100,000. And the startup costs are over with now. They've already got the servers and all that in place."
Plaintiffs are asking a Maricopa County Superior Court to order the health department to reduce the fees.
But the Attorney General’s Office wants the case thrown out, contending voters gave state health officials wide leeway in setting the fees.