Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Utah legislators to cut push for medical pot
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah lawmakers announced Friday that they’re scaling back their push to expand the state’s very limited medical marijuana law to cover more uses or ailments and instead will focus on calling for additional research on the drug’s effects.
Four Republican lawmakers said at a news conference that their proposals will focus on finding out more about the drug’s impact on conditions such as chronic pain and cancer. They also want to explore the risks. Gov. Gary Herbert backed the approach.
A separate proposal is expected to outline what rules the state would put in place to regulate the legalization of medical marijuana if that ever happens in the future.
The lawmakers said they also want to wait and see where President Donald Trump’s administration stands with medical marijuana.
“What we lack in this country, precisely, is that research,” Republican Sen. Brian Shiozawa said.
So “we can ask and answer the question precisely: Does this work and for what conditions does it work and what are the potential side-effects?”
Before the session started, lawmakers said they were working on five medical marijuana proposals, which included expanding the rules for who can use marijuana extracts.
Proponents of legalizing medical marijuana vowed to work to get an initiative on the ballot in 2018 so they can help Utah’s sick residents.
“Their plight has fallen on very deaf ears, so it’s time for them to take the matter into their own hands,” said Connor Boyack, president of the libertarian-leaning nonprofit Libertas Institute.
To get an initiative on the ballot, backers would have to collect thousands of signatures, get legal review and hold seven town hall meetings around the state. Utah law requires that 10 percent of the voters in 26 of 29 Senate districts sign a petition for a ballot initiative.
Herbert said the focus on research first is right because the medical community has concerns and there isn’t enough science to show marijuana is an effective and safe treatment.
The state tried to pass two medical marijuana plans last year, but both died amid regulatory and budgetary concerns.
Utah allows a marijuana extract, called cannabidiol, to be used by those with severe epilepsy, as long as they obtain it from other states. It has low levels of THC, the hallucinogenic chemical in marijuana.