PHOENIX — A Republican lawmaker has withdrawn a bill restricting access to medical marijuana after receiving hundreds of complaints.

The bill by Rep. Jay Lawrence of Scottsdale would have removed physicians practicing alternative medicine such as naturopathy and homeopathy from the list of doctors that can issue medical marijuana referrals. More than 87 percent of all referrals came from naturopaths and homeopaths in the budget year starting last July.

Lawrence apologized to Arizona residents Friday after receiving hundreds of emails and phone calls from concerned Arizona residents who use medical marijuana legally. He said he did not do enough research before introducing the measure.

Republican lawmakers are trying to amend Arizona’s Medical Marijuana Act to make it more difficult for patients to access medication.

Their proposals include limiting which types of doctors can issue medical marijuana referrals, tightening restrictions on who can receive referrals and requiring patients to get new referrals more often.

But the proposals could conflict with the Arizona Constitution, which prevents the legislature from altering voter-approved initiatives such as the Medical Marijuana Act, which has nearly 88,000 qualified patients.

In November 2015, voters in Pueblo, Colorado approved an additional excise tax on marijuana sales with 60-percent approval. The excise tax will begin in 2017, and will gradually increase until it reaches 5-percent in 2020. Of that increased tax, 50-percent will be set aside for scholarships.

The city of Pueblo accounts for 3-percent of the state’s total recreational marijuana sales. It also accounts for 20-percent of the states total production of marijuana. Leaders in the marijuana cultivation industry agree that the tax is a smart initiative.

A marijuana legalization campaign is nearing its goal of gathering 150,000 valid signatures to get on the November ballot.

The  initiative would ask Arizona voters to legalize marijuana for recreational use and establish a network of licensed cannabis shops where sales of the drug would be taxed.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol is a few thousand signatures short of gathering the 150,642 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot, spokesman Barrett Marson said Wednesday. However, some of those signatures are likely invalid -- gathered from people who cannot vote -- and the group aims to collect 225,000 signatures, he said.

"Arizonans are clearly excited about this initiative," Marson added.

A marijuana legalization campaign is nearing its goal of gathering 150,000 valid signatures to get on the November ballot.

The  initiative would ask Arizona voters to legalize marijuana for recreational use and establish a network of licensed cannabis shops where sales of the drug would be taxed.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol is a few thousand signatures short of gathering the 150,642 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot, spokesman Barrett Marson said Wednesday. However, some of those signatures are likely invalid — gathered from people who cannot vote — and the group aims to collect 225,000 signatures, he said.

"Arizonans are clearly excited about this initiative," Marson added.

My Turn: Critics say an Arizona initiative to legalize marijuana would be disastrous. But evidence proves otherwise.

A recent New York Times editorial got it wrong. Despite its push for legalization, there’s no reason the feds should OK marijuana for recreational use when states are still experimenting with the consequences. AP AP This April 21, 2011 photos shows marijuana growing in the home of two medical marijuana patients in Medford, Ore. The City of Cave Junction, Ore., has filed a lawsuit asking a judge to determine if the new state law authorizing the sale of medical marijuana through dispensaries complies with the state and federal constitutions.

In Colorado, the past 16 weeks have seen 15 recalls of cannabis products because of pesticides, including the largest such recall last week.

The state's one of several that now mandate or encourage testing of recreational marijuana for contaminants.

But in Arizona, the products of medical-marijuana sellers and cultivators never have been officially scrutinized. If the state approves recreational use in November, that's going to change — with a likely increase in pot pricing.

CANNABIS CULTURE – Now that Canada is poised to legalize cannabis for all adults, you may grow complacent about how much trouble marijuana can get you into in the United States.

Sure, we’ve got four states (Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington) that have legalized some possession of weed, with another five states (Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada) likely to legalize in 2016. You can even possess pot in our nation’s capital, Washington DC.

The University of Arizona’s Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC) has posted aseries of webinars on its website. The webinars are part of CEAC’s “Covering Environments” monthly seminar series. Each of the webinars are available for free on-demand viewing.

Here’s a quick look at each part of the seminar series:

• “The Birth Of An Agricultural Revolution: Controlled Environment Agriculture.”Presented by Dr. Merle Jensen, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona, the presentation is Jensen’s direct reflections on the steps he took to introduce modern hydroponic systems to urban food production.