A bill that would expand Utah’s medical cannabis industry seemed on the verge of burning out earlier this month, but the legislation found a new spark Tuesday after being approved by a Senate committee.
The bill, HB203, would further regulate existing medical cannabis producers and pharmacies as well as create a pathway for new pharmacies in the state.
The legislation passed the Utah House by a vote of 57-15 earlier this month, with votes in favor from both sides of the aisle, and was sent to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. But the bill was held in committee after a wave of opposition from groups including the conservative Utah Eagle Forum and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The hold was frustrating for sponsor Rep. Jennifer Dailey-Provost, D-Salt Lake, who said she has been working on the legislation for months.
“I have welcomed every stakeholder to the table,” she said when the bill was held Feb. 13, “and the sense of betrayal after I made literally every concession that was asked and came here today under the understanding that everybody was able to compromise and got a little bit of what they wanted, that’s a betrayal and a frustration.”
In recent weeks, the bill has been substituted five times. Originally, HB203 would have, among other things, allowed for 25 new cannabis pharmacies in Utah and created a medical cannabis ombudsman who would have helped to oversee the state program and acted as a legislative liaison.
Under the version that passed through committee Tuesday, only two new pharmacy licenses would be issued, and the ombudsman is no more, after the LDS Church, Eagle Forum and other conservative advocates, including Drug Safe Utah,objected, as they felt the role consolidated too much power, according to people who worked on the legislation.
The LDS Church did not respond to a request for comment on the bill.
Following the many changes, HB203 was approved by the Senate committee Tuesday by a vote of 6-0, and Republican Senate President Stuart Adams called into the hearing to vote in favor. The bill’s approval was a relief for its sponsor and advocates, especially given its rocky path thus far.
“I’m super glad that senators were really thoughtful about letting us reconsider the bill and take it into account that there’s obviously a lot of hard work about cannabis in general,” Dailey-Provost said in an interview Tuesday. “We have to stay focused on the fact that we have an opportunity and an obligation. … If we don’t do it, then some of the legitimate problems that are out there will perpetuate.”
‘They stopped listening to us’
Desiree Hennessey, the executive director of the Utah Patients Coalition, said that although the bill has been “watered down,” she is still hopeful that it will address patients’ needs, including bringing down prices and expanding access. The trouble with the bill began, in her opinion, when lawmakers began hearing from the LDS Church. “They stopped listening to us,” she told The Salt Lake Tribune, “and they just put their blinders on and would not even have a conversation.”
“I’m a member of the church, too,” Hennessey added, “but many of their legislative members, they… just say, ‘Hey, we don’t want this to go forward until we say it does.’”
While the church has lobbied out of the spotlight, public tensions over the bill reached a peak two weeks ago when a member of the Utah Eagle Forum spoke in opposition to the bill at its first Senate hearing. It was frustrating for Dailey-Provost, who said she had been working for some time to address their concerns.
“I have been very grateful for the collaboration and spirit of compromise that every stakeholder came to the table with,” Dailey-Provost said in a text message to Tribune last week. “The exception, as I mentioned, is the Eagle Forum.”
Last Friday, however, Dailey-Provost said that Utah Eagle Forum President Gayle Ruzika told her that her organization did not oppose the legislation and that the woman who spoke was not speaking on behalf of the group. Ruzika said the same in an interview with The Tribune, adding that she had given the member permission to speak and had considered speaking in opposition of the ombudsman herself, though declined to do so as she had not been able to warn Dailey-Provost first.
Ruzika said she has concerns with the potency of modern marijuana, something HB203 does not address. “They would show the hippies, and they were high on marijuana with one to three percent THC,” she said. “Now in these marijuana stores, you can buy 90% THC. I mean, at that point, you might as well be taking opioids.” (Cannabis is not equivalent, in any dosage, to opioids, and, in fact, one 2024 study found that legalizing medical marijuana in Utah reduced opioid use among pain patients.)
Following the removal of the ombudsman, however, Ruzika told The Tribune that her group did not support the bill but was no longer in opposition. Still, on Tuesday morning, David Kyle, Eagle Forum’s vice president of special projects, appeared at the hearing to oppose the bill and said he was “representing” the group. Ruzika did not respond to a request for comment on whether the group was back to officially opposing the bill.
Alex Iorg, one of the founders of medical cannabis pharmacy Wholesome Co., said he thinks this kind of conservative resistance to the program could backfire.
“Where I worry is that frustrations from patients or the lack of support could lead us down a path to recreational [use],” he said in an interview. If lawmakers won’t support upkeep of the medical program, he can see supporters pushing for full cannabis legalization, like several of Utah’s neighboring states. ”Now, I don’t want that to happen,” Iorg said, “but there are rumblings.”
Two new pharmacies
Passing Dailey-Provost’s bill would mean Utah would get fewer new cannabis pharmacies in the coming months than state agencies originally proposed.
Current law allows for 15 pharmacy licenses in the state, but the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, in consultation with the Department of Health and Human Services, may issue additional licenses if they determine there is a need. And, according to a letter shared with The Tribune sent last August by Richard J. Oborn, the office director for Utah’s DHHS Center for Medical Cannabis, both DHHS and DAF believed there was a need for four additional pharmacies. HB203, meanwhile, would limit the number of new pharmacies to two.
Utah has had a legal medical cannabis program since 2019, and more than 80,000 people in the state have prescriptions for its use, but many do not actually fill their prescriptions consistently. Dailey-Provost and others who have worked on HB203 said the biggest issue with the program is how many people — something like half of card holders — are not actually filling their prescriptions, and many are instead turning to the black market for cannabis.
Christine Stenquist, a patient activist and the former president of Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education (TRUCE), a group that helped push for legalizing medical cannabis, said she is among those patients who have turned to the black market, and knows many others who have done the same, finding it more accessible and less expensive. “Those who aren’t familiar with the program who get into it, they [go to a pharmacy] a few times, and it’s just lackluster,” she said. “There’s so much opposition to it that it can’t thrive.”
Stenquist said she wishes the legislative conversation was less focused on the morality of legal weed and more focused on patient needs and education, including the use of synthetic products and the cleaning and labeling of products that have developed mold.
“My frustration with the opposition in the state is the problems that are really there in the field are never addressed,” she said. “It’s never about the quality. It’s never about the labeling. It’s never about the consumer protection. It is always about our feelings about how this looks in our society.”
Having finally survived the gauntlet of committee approval, HB203 will now come to the Senate floor for a full vote. In a media availability Tuesday following the committee hearing, Adams said he is “fully supportive” of the most recent substitute, but added, “We’ll see what happens.”
A budding coalition is helping lawmakers pass a bill to expand and further regulate Utah’s medical marijuana industry. Read More
