{"id":8524,"date":"2018-11-10T03:14:13","date_gmt":"2018-11-10T03:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=3267154"},"modified":"2018-11-10T03:14:13","modified_gmt":"2018-11-10T03:14:13","slug":"utah-latest-state-to-legalize-medical-pot-expand-medicaid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/utah-latest-state-to-legalize-medical-pot-expand-medicaid\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah latest state to legalize medical pot, expand Medicaid"},"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-latest-state-to-legalize-medical-pot-expand-medicaid\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/utah-latest-state-to-legalize-medical-pot-expand-medicaid.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 Voters in conservative Utah have decided to join the growing number of states legalizing medical marijuana and expanding Medicaid to cover tens of thousands more low-income residents, two issues that had long stalled out with conservative state lawmakers.<\/p>\n<p>Utah will be on the list of more than 30 states allowing patients legal access to medical marijuana after the plan maintained a vote lead in Friday tabulations. The measure will be revised, though, under a compromise that won the approval of influential Mormon church leaders.<\/p>\n<p>The faith had opposed the ballot proposal over fears it could lead to broader use, but after months of fierce debate agreed to the deal. It will change the law by blocking marijuana edibles like cookies that might appeal to children and won\u2019t allow people to grow their own marijuana if they live too far from a dispensary.<\/p>\n<p>The state Legislature is expected to meet in early December to hammer out the details of revising the newly passed law.<\/p>\n<p>Missouri also passed a medical marijuana initiative in this midterm election. Michigan became the first Midwestern state to legalize recreational marijuana while North Dakota voted against it.<\/p>\n<p>Utah\u2019s approval of medical marijuana shows the state\u2019s residents can think for themselves despite opposition from powerful groups such as the Utah Chiefs of Police Association, Utah Medical Association and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of Utah\u2019s population, said DJ Schanz, director of the group that put the proposition on the ballot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re excited that these sick and ailing patients will finally be able to find relief without being criminalized in Utah,\u201d said Schanz, director of the Utah Patients Coalition. \u201cThis a big message that Utahns are compassionate people \u2026 that people can think and vote autonomously.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the Medicaid vote, Utah joins two other Republican-leaning states, Idaho and Nebraska, where voters also approved expanding the program under President Barack Obama\u2019s health care law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got a mandate from the public,\u201d said Matt Slonaker, executive director of the Utah Health Policy Project. His group supported the plan to provide health care coverage to an estimated 150,000 of the state\u2019s low-income residents.<\/p>\n<p>Most of those people work, but they don\u2019t have access to health insurance through their jobs, often because they are part-time, advocate RyLee Curtis said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis has been six years in the making, so it\u2019s exciting to finally be able to tell people they can access the health care they\u2019ve been waiting so long for,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The measure includes a sales tax increase that is expected to generate $90 million that will combine with $800 million in federal money to fund the expansion.<\/p>\n<p>State lawmakers, however, remain concerned the plan wouldn\u2019t cover the cost of the program. Incoming Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson said Friday the state already struggles to fund schools because of the state\u2019s large families, so lawmakers fear full Medicaid expansion could cut into education dollars.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>\u201cThe legislature has some tough decisions to make regarding which programs will receive less funding in the future,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Curtis, though, said advocates calculated the sales-tax increase to more than cover the costs estimated by state analysts.<\/p>\n<p>On both issues, advocates decided to go to the voters after years of failing to convince the GOP-dominated state Legislature to change state law.<\/p>\n<p>Utah lawmakers did approve a smaller expansion measure with work requirements this year. But the federal government hasn\u2019t yet accepted that plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>Voters in conservative Utah have decided to join the growing number of states legalizing medical marijuana and expanding Medicaid to cover tens of thousands more low-income residents, two issues that had long stalled out with conservative state lawmakers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5062,446,6813,77,6853,5667,7093,56,9,5019,1,3,93,61,1736],"tags":[5063,3020,6818,2655,6854,5673,7094,2636,5022,2671],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8524"}],"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=8524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8524\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}