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South Jordan comes into compliance with medical marijuana legislation

Nov 11, 2019 04:58PM ● By Susan Palmer

In the election of November 2018, Utah voters passed a medical marijuana law allowing the use of whole-plant medical cannabis at the ballot. (Photo/Pixabay)

Susan Palmer | [email protected]

At the South Jordan City Council Meeting on Oct.1, a Summary Consent Resolution was announced by City Attorney Ryan Loose, declaring the City of South Jordan complies with the Utah Medical Cannabis Act.

This was passed without discussion.  

“This may seem unnecessary, as we always abide by the law; that is what we do,” Mayor Dawn Ramsey said.

In the election of November 2018, Utah voters passed a medical marijuana law, allowing the use of whole-plant medical cannabis at the ballot. State leaders were not satisfied with this law as written, and the State Legislature has been making changes. The program is still not operational, and many changes and regulations are still being initiated.

Currently, these are some of the current proposed conditions for initiation of the program.

The qualifying conditions for medical use of Medical Cannabis (Marijuana):

:•HIV or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)

•Alzheimer’s disease

•Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

•Cancer

•Cachexia

•Persistent nausea that is not significantly responsive to traditional treatment except for nausea

related to: pregnancy, cannabis-induced cyclical vomiting syndrome or CBD hyper emesis syndrome

•Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis

•Epilepsy or debilitating seizures

•Multiple sclerosis or debilitating muscle spasm

•Post-traumatic stress disorder that is being treated and monitored by a mental health therapist and that has been diagnosed by a health care provider or mental health provider by the VA and documented in the patient’s record; or has been diagnosed or confirmed by evaluation by a psychiatrist, doctorate psychologist, a doctorate licensed clinical social worker or a psych APRN

•Autism

•Terminal illness when the patient’s remaining life expectancy is less than six months

•Condition resulting in the individual receiving hospice care

•Rare condition or disease that affects fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S., as defined in federal law and this is not adequately managed despite treatment attempts using conventional medications (other than opioids or opiates) or physical interventions

•Pain lasting longer than two weeks that is not adequately managed, in the qualified medical provider’s opinion, despite treatment attempts using conventional medications other than opioids or opiates or physical interventions

•If a patient does not have a qualifying condition specifically named, they may petition the Compassionate Use Board for approval of their medical cannabis card. 


The patient may possess only a 14-day supply of medical cannabis and the following forms:  tablet, capsule, concentrated oil, liquid suspension, topical preparation, transdermal preparation, sublingual preparation, gelatinous cube or lozenge, or a blister pack of unprocessed cannabis flower.

A prescription by a physician must be obtained before a medical cannabis card can be issued to a patient to allow the purchase and use of medical cannabis.

A total of two caregivers may be designated who are permitted to purchase, transport or assist a patient with his or her use of medicine.

No marijuana may be cultivated by anyone except Utah licensed growers. 

The state of Utah will issue licenses to no more than seven medical pharmacies in the state; the location of these is currently not defined.

This Medical Cannabis program is scheduled to begin next March . There will likely still be many changes and legal battles before the program is launched. Some or none of the conditions above may actually end up being put into the law. But the bigger question, and considerations with this program, is medical cannabis will be legal in South Jordan, legal in the state of Utah, but not legal under current federal laws.