Utah lawmakers recently approved legislation that changed parts of the medical marijuana law which was enacted by the states’ citizen. Oklahoma citizens wish that their lawmakers may take note and address the shortcomings of Oklahoma’s medical marijuana law.
A citizen petition in Oklahoma led to a public vote to decide on whether to legalize medical marijuana in Utah. And just as the case was in Oklahoma, the measure was approved. Experts, however, were quick to notice the shortcomings and problems of the sloppily drafted law that had just been approved by voters.
Gary Herbert, on his website, noted that the measure based their amendments on statutes that are already outdated. This has resulted in changes to an important code language about unrelated sections like child custody, whistle blowers and Medicaid.
Utah Lawmakers Move
Lawmakers in Utah did not just fix these shortcomings but also took a vote to create a more credible regulatory system. One of these changes is that businesses selling medical marijuana must have in their employment a fully licensed pharmacist.
Oklahoma’s Board of Health tried to impose similar requirements but it was withdrawn due to legal challenges. A quick poll showed that most of the Oklahoma voters supported the pharmacist requirement.
Utah lawmakers also took a vote to set limits that authorized forms of medical marijuana to liquid suspension, capsules, chewable or dissolvable cubes, concentrated oil, skin patches, and sublingual pills. In Oklahoma, the suggestion to ban smokable marijuana was met halfway by the citizens of the state.
The law in Utah is mainly to address security and track cannabis products from the time it is cultivated to how and where it is consumed. The revised law also sets a limit to the number of cannabis businesses in Utah also giving landlords the right to refuse to rent out their property to medical marijuana users.
