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Medical Marijuana Ad Reported To State Election Office

Utah State

It’s September and election season is here. There are several ballot initiatives this election cycle and Proposition 2, the legalization of Medical Cannabis, is getting a lot of media attention. Recently, The Utah Patients Coalition submitted a formal complaint to the Lieutenant Governor’s office claiming the opposition group’s advertising was illegal and deliberately spreading mis-information about the Proposition 2.  Carolyn Murray has this report: 

Drug Safe Utah is a collection of organizations and individuals opposed to Proposition 2 which would legalize medical marijuana in Utah. The LDS church recently joined the opposition group. According to reports, they want to see more research into the medical benefits of marijuana. They say the initiative doesn’t protect youth or assure safe access for patients. The opposition group has been accused of intentionally misleading the public through radio ads. 

Alex Iorg (pronounced  ORJ) is Campaign Manager for the Utah Patients Coalition. According to Iorg, misleading radio ads have been pulled by some stations. Fox 13 Truth Test found the anti-medical marijuana radio ad to be untruthful. The ad claims medical marijuana is already legal in Utah.

“Because most people will hear these claims and think…wait, I don’t think Medical Marijuana is already legal in our state. I want to investigate that more. WE want them to know we are calling them out on the statements they make. They should be held accountable. We should have honest and open public debate and not try to muddy the water or say things that are misleading or untruthful in order to get people to vote a certain direction especially when people’s lives are involved.”

Wasatch and Summit County State Representatives have declared their opposition to Proposition 2. Tim Quinn represents District 54 covering Wasatch County and Park City. He wants the federal government to treat marijuana like a drug regulated through the FDA.

“I think this would be nice for a doctor to have an additional tool in his toolbelt or his arsenal to prescribe to a patient with chronic pain or epilepsy or other conditions that are deemed worthy of this drug, so that they wouldn’t have to prescribe and opiate. And, now we’ve accomplished two things. We’ve helped the patient in a greater way and hopefully we’ve reduced the dependency on opioids by so many people. I think the statistic in Utah is that one person dies every day from an overdose. So, I think this would be beneficial in both of those fronts, helping the patient and helping with the opioid crisis.”

He says the FDA approval process could be streamlined and shouldn’t take years to complete.

“We’ve been aware of marijuana for decades and decades and probably centuries. I think it could be fast tracked, that within just a few years, two or three, we could be having doctors write prescriptions for medical cannabis. But to your real question of what do we say to the people who this plant has benefited in a drastic and life changing way. It’s a hard question and there’s no easy answer.  While I understand to the best degree I can their plight, I still think it is a dangerous road we go down if we start approving drugs through this process and not through the proper channels.”  

District 53 Representative Logan Wilde says the problems with the states approving medical cannabis is the price is so high compared to street prices, and he doesn’t think it would mitigate the illegal sale of marijuana. And, he says Federally Insured Banks, which are most, if not all banks in Utah, can’t service the industry.

“I believe it will pass, even though I wish it wouldn’t, I believe it will pass.  I think we need to make it successful if it does pass because it’s not something going away. One thing I’ve been looking at is how do we use credit unions like other states have, like Oregon, and some of those states use credit unions and how do we insure that those credit unions aren’t taken advantage of by the federal government until the time comes that they declassify marijuana.”

A link to the Proposition 2 Ballot Initiative and the complaint filed by the Utah Patients Coalition is posted on KPCW.org along with this story.

KPCW contacted the Lieutenant Governor’s Office Elections Director, Justin Lee. He told KPCW the complaint is under review.

Proposition 2 Ballot Initiative:

https://www.utahpatients.org/initiative/

Proposition 2 Ballot Title:
https://elections.utah.gov/Media/Default/2018%20Election/Initiatives/Proposition%202%20-%20Ballot%20Title.pdf

Utah Patient's Coalition Formal Complaint To The Lieutenant Governor's Office:

September 4, 2018

Utah Lieutenant Governor Spencer J. Cox

Elections Division

Utah State Capitol, Suite 220

Salt Lake City, UT 84114

RE: Formal Complaint Against Drug Safe Utah for Purposefully Misleading Utah Voters

Drug Safe Utah (hereafter “DSU”) has consistently and deliberately attempted to mislead the public about the contents of the Utah Medical Cannabis Act, now known as Proposition 2. These actions include radio ads, mailing flyers, canvassing voters, and making public statements to deliberately confuse and mislead the public. The most recent efforts include a radio ad and telephone poll making demonstrably false claims about the contents of Prop 2.

For example, DSU’s radio ad claims that “Prop 2 is actually about recreational use and not medical.”

However, the Utah Medical Cannabis Act is a strictly medical program requiring physician-approved treatment for a specific list of medical conditions. Nowhere in the law does it provide for recreational use of cannabis. So-called “recreational” laws are those that allow adults to purchase cannabis at retail stores

without physician oversight or an existing medical condition. This is not at all what Prop 2 proposes.

Utah Code 20A-11-1103 states:

A person may not knowingly make or publish, or cause to be made or published, any false statement in relation to any candidate, proposed constitutional amendment, or other measure, that is intended or tends to affect any voting at any primary, convention, or election.

DSU has published a false statement in relation to Prop 2, a ballot measure, that will affect how people vote in the November election. We therefore request the Elections Division to order DSU to immediately cease and desist all such claims regarding Prop 2 being an attempt to legalize “recreational use.”

Further, DSU’s statement is in direct conflict with the independent and official analysis provided to the public by the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, found here. Some radio stations have agreed with our complaint and have already elected to stop airing the ad due to its mistruths.

The ad in question also falsely claims that “Medicinal marijuana is already legal in Utah. Your doctor can prescribe it, or you can buy it over the counter.” This false statement is presumably intended to confuse and mislead the public. No licensed physician can prescribe marijuana for medical treatment. It is a Schedule 1

drug and therefore prohibited from being prescribed by a doctor or being sold over the counter.

These legal claims, spoken in the ad by a licensed Utah physician, could mislead some in the public into believing they will not be arrested, charged, or otherwise impeded for possessing or using cannabis in Utah,

www.UtahPatients.org info@utahpatients.org

even for medicinal purposes. This action could cause irreparable harm toward someone in the public who hears and follows the legal claims made by DSU or its spokesperson, Doctor Hamilton.

DSU is also conducting a phone poll to Utah voters that conveys another false statement. In addition to conveying the false statements listed above to the respondent, the pollster uses a script that also says, in part, “For the 19 months between passage and implementation of Prop 2, marijuana possession and use

will be completely legal. This means that for 19 months anyone can use, possess, and grow marijuana legally, and local law enforcement will no longer enforce marijuana laws.”

This statement is also demonstrably false. With Prop 2’s passage, law enforcement would retain the ability to arrest anybody for possession, use, and growing of marijuana during the 19 months in question. Nothing in the proposal would limit their power to do so at all. County attorneys retain the ability to prosecute these

people as well. Prop 2 does provide an affirmative defense for a person who would qualify for a medical cannabis card once available to patients, and only if they can prove evidence of that claim in court.

It is completely false, however, to state that this makes “marijuana possession… completely legal.” To say that anybody can do so “legally” and that law enforcement “will no longer enforce marijuana laws” is an egregious claim and simply untrue. As with the previous false statements, we again call upon the Elections

Division, pursuant to Section 20A-11-1103, to order DSU to immediately cease and desist such falsehoods.

These new efforts are part of a larger trend on DSU’s part to lie to the public. Earlier attempts include paying canvassers to make false statements and even misrepresent themselves to voters, such as making statements they were representatives of the ballot initiative, and that they were working with the county.

These efforts have been documented and recorded by Utah Patients Coalition and concerned citizens.

Even former canvassers working on behalf of DSU resigned due to the misleading statements they were being asked to say to voters.

In addition to a cease and desist order prohibiting DSU from making false statements to Utah voters as required by Utah law, we request that the Lieutenant Governor’s office publicly sanction DSU for its untruthful activities and order any other relief deemed appropriate by the Elections Division.

While we respect those who disagree with the legalization of medical cannabis in Utah, the Utah Patients Coalition considers the use of false statements to be repugnant, especially when their effect would be to continue criminalizing patients in Utah. State law should be followed and false statements should be

prohibited. Drug Safe Utah’s public actions have caused harm to patients and the passage of Prop 2.

We ask that you make this complaint available to the public and Drug Safe Utah’s coalition of supporters.

www.UtahPatients.org info@utahpatients.org

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