Utah GOP guts voter-approved medical marijuana initiative after lobbying from Mormon church

[workinclasszero]

Utah voters passed a medical marijuana law the Mormon church didn’t like. So GOP legislators rewrote it as ordered

IGOR DERYSH DECEMBER 14, 2018 11:30PM (UTC)

Republican state legislators in Utah replaced a medical marijuana initiative that voters voted into law with their own bill that has far stricter limitations on medical cannabis after lobbying from the Mormon church, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Voters approved Proposition 2 in November, making Utah one of 32 states to legalize medical marijuana. On the first day that the law went into effect, lawmakers in the state legislature voted along party lines to override voters and replace the law with a “compromise” that appeases the law’s opponents, including the Mormon church.

The “compromise” bill reduces the 40 medical dispensaries permitted by Prop. 2 to only seven “pharmacies.” Most of the distribution will be state-run.

While Prop 2 legalized THC-infused edibles, the compromise bill bans most edibles except for gelatin cubes. The legislation also removed most autoimmune diseases from the list of illnesses that qualified for cannabis treatment.

After the legislation was signed into law by Gov. Gary Herbert, two pro-marijuana groups that worked to pass the ballot initiative filed a lawsuit against the the state, arguing that the legislature violated the Utah constitution by overriding the will of the voters and that the Church of Latter-day Saints' involvement in the overhaul violated another part of the state’s constitution.

"Anything that defeats the right of the people to pass their own legislation under our constitution should be declared unconstitutional. Otherwise it’s totally illusory," Rocky Anderson, an attorney for the group TRUCE, told KSTU.

https://www.salon.com/2018/12/14/utah-gop-guts-voter-approved-medical-marijuana-initiative-after-lobbying-from-mormon-church/

[2naSalit]

1. Of course they did...

the church has always owned/operated the state and since they are controlling zealots of the first order, the actual people will never have anything the church doesn't like.

[workinclasszero]

2. This country was formed to get away from crap like that

Utah must be the model that the GOP and the evangelical right want to force on the entire country.

[2naSalit]

7. Pretty much it...nt

[LongtimeAZDem]

3. Deadpool's gonna be pissed

[ooky]

4. I doubt the GOP needed any incentive from the Mormon church

to subvert the will of the voters. The GOP subverts the will of voters in states across the country all the time. Typical fascist behavior.

[beachbum bob]

5. could use this in 2020 to pick up some democratic state offices, when you go against the will

of the voter, the voter will respond and find reps who will do their bidding

[workinclasszero]

6. Hopefully the same effect happens in

Michigan, Wisconsin, NC and Florida just to name a few places where republicans have defied the will of the voters.

[Andy823]

10. Exactly!

If there were enough voters to pass the law in the firsts place, there should be enough voters to get rid of some of those who are not doing the will of the people.

[Takket]

8. same shit just happened in Florida with the former felons voting rights ballot inititative

and i'll say the same thing i said there.............

YOU. CAN'T. DO. THAT.

The ballot initiative overrides the legislature and governor.

[workinclasszero]

9. That's right

That’s “democracy and freedom” in Trump’s Amerikkka.

We are under a lawless GOP dictatorship. We used to routinely condemn countries that pulled shit like this in the past.

Now it’s our turn. I hope the House democrats can stop Trump and his fascist party.