On Wednesday, Gov. Gary Hubert signed a stack of bills into law. Among them was House Bill 195, which gives terminally ill individuals in the final stages of their life the freedom to use medical cannabis. Or in the terms of the bill, terminally ill patients have the “right to try” cannabis-based treatments. And that’s it. So even though the governor of Utah just signed a medical marijuana bill, it’s a bit too far to call Utah a medical cannabis state.
Utah Gives Dying Patients The “Right To Try” Medical Cannabis Treatments
Representative Brad Daw (R-Orem) was the sponsor behind House Bill 195. He brought the bill to the floor of the Utah legislature with the help of Sen. Evan Vickers, a pharmacist and business owner.
HB 195 is remarkably brief in its content. It simply lays out the procedure through which a terminally ill patient can receive a cannabis-based treatment recommendation from their physician.
Officially the “Utah Right to Try Act,” the bill exempts qualifying individuals from the penalties in the Utah Controlled Substances Act.
However, HB 195 does not specify how or where patients can receive medical marijuana. Nor does it lay out any regulations for cultivating medical cannabis.
There is a companion bill to HB 195 that would permit the Utah Department of Agriculture and Good to grow marijuana. Officials expect the governor to sign that bill.
Even though the bill is a tentative first step forward toward broader reforms, medical cannabis advocates have criticized it for not going far enough.
Final Hit: The Governor of Utah Just Signed A Medical Marijuana Bill
House Bill 195, however, wasn’t the only cannabis-related bill to wind up on Gov. Hubert’s desk. In