Utah patients file medical marijuana ballot initiative to bypass Legislature

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Summary

The medical marijuana law proposed by the ballot initiative would set up state-regulated marijuana growing and dispensing operations. Mark Madsen, a Republican who unsuccessfully tried to get a medical marijuana bill passed before he retired from the Legislature last year. Gary Herbert have said they worry a broader medical marijuana law could lead to prescriptions filled for people who feign illness so they can get the drug and use it recreationally. Utah passed an extremely limited medical marijuana law several years ago that allows those with severe epilepsy to use a marijuana extract called cannabidiol if they obtain it from other states. The Utah Patients Coalition wants Utah to join 29 other states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico in allowing broader medical use of marijuana with dispensaries, different plant strains and methods of consuming it.

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SALT LAKE CITY — Activists who say they are tired of waiting for Utah’s conservative Legislature to pass a broad medical marijuana law launched an effort Monday to ask voters next year to pass the law, a move that would bypass state lawmakers.

People with chronic, painful conditions who want to use marijuana legally in the state plus other members of a group called the Utah Patients Coalition said lawmakers’ rejection of broad medical marijuana laws for three years in a row prompted their ballot initiative drive.

“The time has come to help alleviate the pain and suffering of the most vulnerable in our society, with the help of a medicine...

Read the full article @ The Cannabist