The Arizona auditor general found in 2019 that the state Department of Health Services had misallocated money from the medical marijuana fund.
A new follow-up report says the health department has been slow to implement all policies and procedures needed to keep it from happening again.
The Arizona auditor general’s three-year follow up report estimates there is about $48 million in the medical marijuana fund. But only $22 million has not been spoken for.
The report concludes the state health department doesn’t have the information to properly set medical marijuana fees because it has not done a documented review of program costs.
The report also says auditors found some salaries were paid from the medical marijuana fund when staff worked on tasks not related to the program.
The follow-up comes days after the deadline to apply for health department grants to do clinical trials with money from the medical marijuana fund.
The health department released a statement:
“The Arizona Department of Health Services has made significant progress in response to the performance audit, and we will continue to work with the Auditor General to address remaining issues.”
