Mormon Church Releases Official Statement About Cannabis
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]T[/dropcap]he Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ First Presidency just announced it’s views on The Utah Medical Cannabis Act.
According to Fox 13, the statement was released last week, and praised the Utah Medical Association, (UMA) who opposed the ballot initiative.
“We commend the Utah Medical Association for its statement of March 30, 2018, cautioning that the proposed Utah marijuana initiative would compromise the health and safety of Utah communities,” the church stated. “We respect the wise counsel of the medical doctors of Utah. The public interest is best served when all new drugs designed to relieve suffering and illness, and the procedures by which they are made available to the public, undergo the scrutiny of medical scientists and official approval bodies.”
Fox 13 said that the church officials would not elaborate on this statement, or explain whether or not it represents an overall opposition to medical cannabis. Mormon church officials did, however, approve of a limited CBD-only bill a few years ago.
In addition to the Mormon church and the UMA, Gov. Gary Herbert has stated that he will “actively oppose” the initiative.
However, there are also a lot of people in Utah who would like to see the ballot measure pass. So far, it has gained 160,000 signatures, and it only needed 113,000 to make it onto the ballot this November.
Additionally, not all Mormons oppose medical cannabis, so it is hard to say if this is a definitive statement from the faith, or just a statement from this group. According to a poll taken in Utah, 63 percent of Mormons now support medical cannabis. Many Mormons have progressive ideas about medicine and holistic healing, despite the church’s recent statement. All in all, it’s not clear what direction Utah will take, since the state is so divided, but it does appear that there will be a ballot initiative to legalize medical cannabis in November.
