Utah allows limited access to medical cannabis

Some of the U.S. states that have been most resistant to the medical use of cannabis are now beginning to relax their laws. Utah signed three laws late last week to allow certain terminally ill patients to access non-smokable forms of cannabis products.

The first law, the HB195, grants people with less than 6 months to live the «right to try» medical cannabis with a prescription from their doctor. This law alone does not provide for the opening of dispensaries, essentially forcing patients to turn to the black market to obtain cannabis.

That is why a second law was signed, the HB197, and will allow the Utah Department of Agriculture to delegate the production and storage of authorized cannabis products to local businesses.

With the third bill passed, the SB130, signed into law by State Governor Gary Herbert. The bill authorizes the sale of CBD oil under state oversight of production, labeling, and product testing. Many stores in Utah have already been selling hemp-derived CBD products for several years and will now have a legal framework within which to operate.

Despite this first step toward helping patients, activists in Utah won’t stop at this «right to try.» In fact, they hope to successfully put an initiative on the ballot for next November’s referendum to further expand access to medical cannabis—but still in non-smokable forms (oils, e-cigarettes, candies, balms, etc.).

The Group Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education announced that it had already collected 117,000 signatures, exceeding the 113,000 required by April 15.