Robert Celt
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Members of the House Republican caucus heard pitches Tuesday for two approaches to legalizing medical marijuana, but House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, said the caucus likely won't take a position on the issue.
"We had that debate in there, and some of that stuff can just fly. However it goes, it goes. I don't think it's going to rise to that level," Hughes said after the caucus meeting. "The process will move it forward."
Neither SB73, sponsored by Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Saratoga Springs; nor SB89, from Sen. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City, have been heard yet in the Senate, although both have been sent to committees.
Madsen said his bill permitting patients with certain conditions to access and use cannabis will be heard Thursday by the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee.
It's Madsen's second attempt to legalize marijuana for specific medical uses, including relieving chronic pain. Last session, a bill he sponsored on the subject failed to pass the Senate by a single vote.
Vickers' bill would limit use to the nonpsychoactive cannabis extract called cannabinoid, or CBD, building on a 2014 law that offered trial access to hemp oil to Utahns with epilepsy.
Speaking at a fast pace to beat a shot clock used by House GOP leaders to keep the lunchtime meeting on schedule, Madsen said there's a lot of "misperceptions and misinformation" about medical uses for marijuana.
For example, he said, 21 of the 23 state that have legalized medical marijuana do not allow recreational use. And, Madsen said, THC, the cannabis extract that causes psychoactive effects, has been synthesized into a harsher prescription drug.
Madsen said his bill includes both "high walls" and "narrow doors" to regulate use and that it would take 18 months before the first patients could pick up product from the first dispensaries in the state.
Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem, talked about Vickers' bill in the caucus, saying the pair worked closely with the medical and law enforcement communities because "first and foremost," medical marijuana needs to be treated as medicine.
Daw said the goal of the bill is also for Utah "to lead the way" in research on the effects of treating people with marijuana. When asked, he said that the proposed uses in both bills are prohibited by federal law.
Several caucus members raised concerns, including Rep. Brad Dee, R-Ogden.
"I'm struggling with this," Dee said. He said employers would be liable if employees using medical marijuana injure themselves or others and have no way of knowing if a positive drug test means the drug is being used recreationally.
Rep. Kay McIff, R-Richfield, said if the state is "going to get into it, I favor doing it real cautiously." McIff was the House chairman of the interim committee that recommended Vickers' bill but not Madsen's in December.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Utah: House Republicans Hear Medical Marijuana Bills, Not Expected To Take A Position
Author: Lisa Riley Roche
Photo Credit: Adobe stock photo
Website: Deseret News
"We had that debate in there, and some of that stuff can just fly. However it goes, it goes. I don't think it's going to rise to that level," Hughes said after the caucus meeting. "The process will move it forward."
Neither SB73, sponsored by Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Saratoga Springs; nor SB89, from Sen. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City, have been heard yet in the Senate, although both have been sent to committees.
Madsen said his bill permitting patients with certain conditions to access and use cannabis will be heard Thursday by the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee.
It's Madsen's second attempt to legalize marijuana for specific medical uses, including relieving chronic pain. Last session, a bill he sponsored on the subject failed to pass the Senate by a single vote.
Vickers' bill would limit use to the nonpsychoactive cannabis extract called cannabinoid, or CBD, building on a 2014 law that offered trial access to hemp oil to Utahns with epilepsy.
Speaking at a fast pace to beat a shot clock used by House GOP leaders to keep the lunchtime meeting on schedule, Madsen said there's a lot of "misperceptions and misinformation" about medical uses for marijuana.
For example, he said, 21 of the 23 state that have legalized medical marijuana do not allow recreational use. And, Madsen said, THC, the cannabis extract that causes psychoactive effects, has been synthesized into a harsher prescription drug.
Madsen said his bill includes both "high walls" and "narrow doors" to regulate use and that it would take 18 months before the first patients could pick up product from the first dispensaries in the state.
Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem, talked about Vickers' bill in the caucus, saying the pair worked closely with the medical and law enforcement communities because "first and foremost," medical marijuana needs to be treated as medicine.
Daw said the goal of the bill is also for Utah "to lead the way" in research on the effects of treating people with marijuana. When asked, he said that the proposed uses in both bills are prohibited by federal law.
Several caucus members raised concerns, including Rep. Brad Dee, R-Ogden.
"I'm struggling with this," Dee said. He said employers would be liable if employees using medical marijuana injure themselves or others and have no way of knowing if a positive drug test means the drug is being used recreationally.
Rep. Kay McIff, R-Richfield, said if the state is "going to get into it, I favor doing it real cautiously." McIff was the House chairman of the interim committee that recommended Vickers' bill but not Madsen's in December.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Utah: House Republicans Hear Medical Marijuana Bills, Not Expected To Take A Position
Author: Lisa Riley Roche
Photo Credit: Adobe stock photo
Website: Deseret News
