Connect with us

News

Utah House Passes Two Medical Cannabis Bills for the Terminally Ill

Published

on

One of the two bills required in order for medical cannabis to become legal and accessible to the terminally ill in the state of Utah failed last week, however, the bill was resurrected on Feb. 13, giving a second chance to terminally ill patients in Utah.

The first bill, House Bill 195, which allows for terminally ill patients with six months to live to get medical cannabis with a recommendation from their doctor, passed. The narrow victory came after a late amendment was added that removed nurses from the approved medical professionals that could recommend cannabis.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that House Bill 195 also caps the number of patients that doctors can recommend medical cannabis to 25. “We don’t want to create what we refer to as Dr. Feelgood,” said Rep. Brad Daw in reference to the patient limitation.

The second bill, which was meant to pass in conjunction with the first, initially failed. House Bill 197 would mandate the state’s Department of Agriculture and Food (DAF) to write rules for cannabis cultivation and to contract with a third-party grower to grow the harvest. The DAF would then be in charge of storage and distribution to patients.

“One is dependent on the other,” said Daw. Without both bills passing, there is no system created to provide medical cannabis to patients. “Maybe it was the wrong policy, maybe it was the wrong decision.”

House Bill 197, however, was resurrected when seven representatives that voted against the bill last Friday changed their stance.

CBD oil was legalized for those with intractable epilepsy in Utah in 2014. With that legalization there also was a lack of a supply chain established in the state.

Both bills received scrutiny on both sides, with arguments against each including the amount of non-terminal patients that could benefit from cannabis, to the federal status of cannabis and the state’s position if they deemed it legal in the state.

“This is an issue that our citizens really have asked about,” said Rep. Mike Noel. His opinion is that these bills would have been action after years of stagnation by Congress. “The fact that we have a plant that can give them some respite and can help them if they have convulsions, if they have pain, constant pain, we can [pass] it and do what the federal government should have done a long time ago.”

 

Both bills now head to the Utah Senate for approval.

 

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *