Tucson’s East Side leads the metro area in medical marijuana patient applications, but if you’re looking for a caregiver, head to midtown.

The most recent Arizona Department of Health Services reefer report shows that the Tanque Verde analysis area, which stretches from Tucson's East Side down through Vail to the Cochise County line, has 186 patients. The northeast analysis area, which covers the near North Side and stretches to the northeast corner of Pima County, shows 165 patients, and the east central area has 131.

The central area alone, which covers midtown, has 14 caregivers, whereas the three aforementioned East Side areas have a combined 11. Under the law, each caregiver can give care (read “pot”) to five patients. Statewide there are 487 caregivers, which covers 2,435 people.

The other 8,698 patients are presumably among the 9,056 people who have requested to grow their own. The state approved 11,133 of 11,186 patients who had applied through Aug. 29. Seven applications have been denied, 42 are awaiting additional information and four are in review, the report shows.

The statistics are tracked by Community Health Analysis Areas, which are based on population and have long been used to track the state’s health numbers.

See the latest medical marijuana report online here - http://www.azdhs.gov/medicalmarijuana/documents/reports/110829_Patient-Application-Report.pdf.