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Did the state just move closer to the original intent of Prop 2….??
"Christine Stenquist, founder of TRUCE, which is suing the state over the bill that replaced Prop. 2, said she also believed policy is moving closer toward what voters approved.
It just isn't fast enough.
'Very, very slowly and that’s concerning,' she said. 'Because we are dealing with patients, with a fragile population and we don’t have time for political games and that’s what we’re dealing with, is political pandering to the powers in the state'."
The other usual principals on the issue are interviewed as well.
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If you want to understand the political posturing here (with no regard for patient interests). this caught our eyes…
"The bill added 14 'pharmacies'. The lawmakers faced questions from colleagues who wondered if this was moving closer to Prop 2.
'I hear that all the time, but I’m having a hard time trying to figure out what that dialogue is,' Sen. Vickers told FOX 13. 'I guess in a sense, yeah. We increased the number of pharmacies, we did away with central-fill.
But they’re A COMPLETE DIFFERENT MODEL than what was in Prop. 2."
…And that was a key point of the "compromise" from the beginning… …to NOT be Prop 2… …in order to mask timid pols' fearful embrace of any program with "plausible deniability" that they really supported meaningful medical cannabis.
The fact "the Utah way," while lauded, will create a program hobbled in high costs, making retail outlets non-competitive on many metrics – price, location, longer hours, range of products, patient product choice, etc., are seen as desirable features rather than the problems patients see them as.
The made up medicalese – pharmacies, medicinal dosage forms, etc. – made 3001 palatable to powerful special interest groups. And that's their main reason for being, since they're not based on the principles of cannabis therapeutics.
The fact that they're short-sighted and will boost a robust, increasingly well-funded illicit market with the resources and sophistication to survive whatever law enforcement techniques are budgeted for in Utah is simply more of the same mentality which has kept the hugely destructive, corrosive and expensive Drug Wars dragging on for decades….
But hang in there. Most people still want a rational approach. And we're not where we were before the 2018 election when the people spoke. This week it went from couldn't possibly ever function as passed, to likely maybe get off the ground somehow, slightly and try to resemble an MC program.
Prop 2 won.
Since then, it has admittedly taken a terrible beating. But the spirit behind it is still ticking. We hear that from so many of you every day, and it stands badly nicked up, but still standing.
Advocates are rightly frustrated, but will have more bites at this apple to come.
Medical cannabis in Utah is the law of the land. And that's not changing.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah State Legislature's unanimous votes to do away with a state-run medical cannabis dispensary network left people both happy and frustrated following a special session on Monday night. "I have to admit, I’m surprised it was unanimous," Senate Majority Leader Evan Vickers, …
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