The Utah Patients Coalition has launched its ballot initiative campaign to establish a medical cannabis program for patients in Utah. With enough signatures, the ballot could be placed on the 2018 ballot.
The proposed ballot initiative would allow patients to legally access medical cannabis with the recommendation of their doctor. In a prepared statement the Coalition says it represents a conservative approach to medical cannabis policy by prohibiting home cultivation and prohibiting smoking medical cannabis.
Campaign spokesperson Christine Stenquist says for the last several years, the Coalition has advocated for a medical cannabis policy that allows patients to seek medical treatment without breaking the law, but the state legislature has refused,. Now, she added, it’s time for Utah voters to decide.
The initiative limits the number of dispensaries and cultivators, allows local zoning for medical cannabis facilities, prohibits using medical cannabis in public view, maintains the illegality of driving while intoxicated, and closely mirrors the legislation passed by the Utah Senate in 2016.
It appears that Utah voters support a medical cannabis ballot initiative. Utah Patients Coalition released polling results that 73% of the respondents said they would vote yes – with 49% saying definitely vote yes on a ballot initiative to allow doctors to recommend medial cannabis as a treatment for cancer, epilepsy, Alzheimer's and other serious illnesses. Only 20% said they would vote no, and 7% were undecided.
Under Utah law, a ballot initiative requires signatures from five sponsors before it can be filed with the lieutenant governor, which has been done. The sponsors include Stenquist who is the leader of the patient advocacy organization, TRUCE as well as a former state legislator and law enforcement official, patient caretakers and a hospice nurse.
Now that the ballot initiative is filed, Utah Patients Coalition will wait for initial approval and a fiscal note from the state. The next step will be to hold a series of seven regional meetings with voters. After that, Utah Patients Coalition can begin collecting the 113,143 signatures required for qualification for the 2018 ballot.
For the entire text of the inititiatve: https://www.utahpatients.org/initiative/
