Utah voters turned a lot of heads back in 2018 when they passed Proposition 2 to legalize medical cannabis in the state. Even the most liberal thinkers of the day felt that the Beehive State would be one of the last to give the green light to cannabis in any form. How things have changed. Not only is medical cannabis legal in Utah, but a new survey shows that half of the state’s population is ready to accept recreational marijuana.
As someone who has been researching and writing on medical cannabis for years, I have long maintained that supporting medical cannabis is simply a steppingstone to full and complete decriminalization. Activists in states with medical-only programs never stop there. As soon as they get medical cannabis approved, they begin working on recreational marijuana.
What Utah Voters Are Saying
According to an October 2024 report from Fox 13 in Salt Lake City, the Utah Patients Coalition teamed up with Noble Predictive Insights to serve state residents about their support for recreational marijuana. Here is what the survey revealed:
- 50% support recreational marijuana.
- 38% support medical cannabis only.
- 9% believe cannabis should be entirely illegal.
- 3% said they were not sure how they felt.
Half the population in support of recreational marijuana isn’t enough to get it done in Utah. But it is a very good starting point. If things don’t change, I suspect the Beehive State we’ll be joining other recreational marijuana states within a year or two. That just seems to be the trend.
Cannabis in Utah Right Now
Utah is currently one of more than three-dozen states with legal medical cannabis. The state licenses cannabis growers, processors, distributors, and testers. From a distribution standpoint, medical cannabis in Utah is sold at retail by state-licensed pharmacies.
Beehive Farmacy is one such organization. The company actually owns two pharmacies: a Salt Lake City dispensary and the other in Brigham City. According to owners, there are just 15 licensed pharmacies to serve the entire state.
In order to purchase medicines from a medical cannabis pharmacy, a patient must possess a valid medical cannabis card issued by the state. There are different types of cards in Utah:
- Patient card
- Caregiver card
- Guardian card
- Provisional patient card
- Non-Utah resident card
All card types except the non-Utah resident card have standard durations of one year. Physicians may recommend shorter durations as needed. As for the non-Utah resident card, it is intended for out-of-state visitors planning to spend some time in the Beehive State. The cards are good for 21 days. Out-of-state visitors can request up to two per year with the possession of a valid medical cannabis card from their home states.
If the State Goes Recreational
Whether it happens within the next year or not, what changes would be in store should the state go recreational? That’s hard to say. Most of the states with both medical and recreational cannabis maintain two separate programs. However, there is some debate over whether doing so is a smart idea.
Conventional thinking says that medical cannabis is of a higher quality and is more tightly regulated. Therefore, patients would want a medical product rather than a recreational one. On the other hand, recreational marijuana tends to be cheaper. Patients can buy it without jumping through hoops as well.
One thing is for sure: Utah’s population is gradually warming up to the idea of recreational marijuana. It is not beyond imagination to envision the state going recreational within the next couple of years. I would even put money on it.