{"id":4183,"date":"2015-05-21T04:51:39","date_gmt":"2015-05-21T04:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/?p=3315"},"modified":"2015-05-21T04:51:39","modified_gmt":"2015-05-21T04:51:39","slug":"utah-governor-herbert-says-hes-considering-legalizing-medical-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/utah-governor-herbert-says-hes-considering-legalizing-medical-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah: Governor Herbert Says He\u2019s Considering Legalizing Medical Marijuana"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/utah-governor-herbert-says-hes-considering-legalizing-medical-marijuana\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>Gov. Gary Herbert said Thursday he&#8217;s open to legalizing marijuana in Utah for medical use.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m open to the idea of medical marijuana and the discussion of how it can be used as a medicine based on science, and making sure we have good, collaborative efforts so we can answer the questions that are out there,&#8221; the governor said.<\/p>\n<p>Herbert said during the taping of his monthly news conference on KUED Ch. 7 that the state has &#8220;a history of looking at opportunities, for medical purposes, to bring substances on board that maybe historically have not been traditional medicine.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He cited cannabis oil, approved by lawmakers a year ago, as &#8220;helping people who have had seizures, and seems to be demonstrating scientifically there is some benefit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Later, the governor told KSL and the Deseret News in an interview he has &#8220;always been open to the discussion&#8221; about legalizing medical marijuana but didn&#8217;t like the &#8220;surprise piece of legislation&#8221; introduced near the end of the 2015 Legislature.<\/p>\n<p>The bill to legalize cannabis use for medical purposes, sponsored by Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Saratoga Springs, failed in the Senate by a single vote. Madsen has said he plans to bring it back in the 2016 Legislature.<\/p>\n<p>During last session&#8217;s debate over Madsen&#8217;s bill, the governor said he wanted to avoid the &#8220;slippery slope&#8221; of legalizing medical marijuana because of concerns that it could &#8220;morph&#8221; into recreational use.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I still have those same concerns,&#8221; Herbert said in the interview. &#8220;I certainly don&#8217;t want to go down the slippery slope&#8221; of recreational users gaining access by claiming a headache and &#8220;Dr. Feelgood is the one out there distributing the medicine.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Madsen&#8217;s bill, the governor said, raised a lot of questions but offered no answers.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was a concept,&#8221; he said, of allowing marijuana to be used to treat &#8220;medical issues based on good science. OK, what&#8217;s not to like about that? We just want to make sure that&#8217;s really the focus.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Madsen said in a phone message on Thursday that, &#8220;obviously, I&#8217;m pleased that the governor&#8217;s perspective seems to be moderating on medical cannabis.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>An opponent of legalizing medical marijuana, Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, said he believes the governor&#8217;s statement will encourage more support for future attempts.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think that&#8217;s a political statement,&#8221; Christensen said of the governor&#8217;s willingness to look at legalization.<\/p>\n<p>Christensen said he opposes medical marijuana because the state will &#8220;lose control of it. It will be used for excuses right and left. It will be abused. We might as well make it recreational marijuana.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Libertas Institute welcomed Herbert&#8217;s statement Thursday, tweeting, &#8220;We\u2019re pleased to note that (Herbert) is now supportive of a well-regulated medical cannabis program.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Libertarian-leaning institute that bills itself as &#8220;advancing the cause of liberty in Utah&#8221; has scheduled a forum on medical cannabis at Weber State University on May 19 featuring Madsen and Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill.<\/p>\n<p>Madsen, who said during the legislative session he had traveled to Colorado to try cannabis tinctures and candies to relieve his chronic back pain, appeared in a video released last month by the Drug Policy Project of Utah promoting legalization of medical marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>At Thursday&#8217;s KUED news conference, the governor also discussed the Utah GOP&#8217;s efforts to ensure he and Republican candidates will have their party affiliation listed on the 2016 ballot.<\/p>\n<p>Herbert said he agreed with a proposal to have Republican candidates attest to their support of the party&#8217;s platform, but didn&#8217;t approve of screening candidates through what he called a &#8220;purity panel&#8221; or charging them fees.<\/p>\n<p>The governor said complying with SB54, a law limiting the power of political parties to control the nomination process, is &#8220;an emotional issue&#8221; that has caused divisiveness within the GOP.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think we&#8217;re headed in the right direction,&#8221; Herbert said of the party&#8217;s efforts to make the changes needed to become a qualified political party that can advance candidates to the ballot. &#8220;I expect there to be a resolution.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/gallery\/data\/1412\/medical3.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>News Moderator: Jacob Redmond <a href=\"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">420 MAGAZINE \u00ae<\/a><br \/>\nFull Article: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ksl.com\/?nid=148&amp;sid=34642994\" target=\"_blank\">Gov. Herbert says he&#8217;s considering legalizing medical marijuana | KSL.com<\/a><br \/>\nAuthor: Lisa Riley Roche<br \/>\nContact: <a href=\"mailto:lroche@ksl.com\">lroche@ksl.com<\/a><br \/>\nPhoto Credit: Rick Bowmer\/AP<br \/>\nWebsite: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ksl.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Utah News, Sports, Weather and Classifieds | KSL.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. Gary Herbert said Thursday he&#8217;s open to legalizing marijuana in Utah for medical use.<br \/>\n&#8220;I&#8217;m open to the idea&#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/2015\/05\/utah-governor-herbert-says-hes-considering-legalizing-medical-marijuana\/\" class=\"read-more\">[Read More]<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1614,9,1,3],"tags":[4182],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4183"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}