Proposition 2 is a ballot proposition that is expected to take place in Utah during the state’s general elections that would be held on 6th November 2018 (Sevigny, 58). Proposition 2 focuses on the legalization of the medical use of marijuana for those persons with identifiable medical illnesses (Frankel, 125). There will be “yes” votes which supported the authorization of the state to use medical marijuana (Sevigny, 58). The Utah Medical Cannabis Act was designed to allow the use of medical marijuana to those people suffering from the qualifying health conditions (Sevigny, 58). On the other hand, the “no” votes would mean to oppose the legalization of the medical use of marijuana for those people with succeeding medical sicknesses (Macdonald, 1). The proposition permits the state to provide medical marijuana cards through a recommendation from physicians (Leinweber et al., 3616).
Proposition 2 or the Utah Medical Cannabis Act would require medical marijuana cardholder not to smoke marijuana or use a scheme to enhance the smoking of marijuana (Sevigny, 58). Being held in the ballot is an indication that the state wanted to consider the civilians’ opinions and views and that is why some voted ‘Yes’ while others voted ‘No’ based on personal reasons (Frankel, 125). Besides, the Utah State Legislature approved lawmaking to allow an individual to purchase two ounces of unmanufactured marijuana within fourteen days, which would be equal with the amount of marijuana product containing equal or less than 10 grams of cannabidiol or tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (Kim, 23). The proposition also plans to allow individuals who are holding medical cards to grow six marijuana plants after 1st January 2021, which they would use in their homes in cases where no dispensaries are accessible within a distance of 100 miles (Macdonald, 1). Indeed, Proposition 2 is expected to discharge marijuana from taxes charged for local and state sales (Sevigny, 58). Besides, Proposition 2 is likely to direct the state legislature to pass business license charges for marijuana trade to fund the continued costs of the enterprise's application (Frankel, 125).
Supporting Proposition 2
Proposition 2 or the Utah Medical Cannabis Act would enable the suffering and sick Utahns to legally get cannabis in the case of their doctors feeling that it would benefit them (Macdonald, 1). Medical marijuana has good health effects such as treating glaucoma, seizures, appetite loss and nausea (Leinweber et al., 3616). Some proponents claim that medical marijuana assists people with side effects from treatment of cancer and AIDs, and it helps in the treatment of epilepsy as well as sclerosis (Market al., 496). Medical marijuana also helps in the treatment of the symptoms of glaucoma, MS, and other health conditions (Leinweber et al., 3616). Medical marijuana can also relieve vomiting and symptoms caused by harsh drugs used to treat illnesses such as AIDS and cancer (Kim et al., 2035). Medical marijuana is less toxic compared to the many medications prescribed by physicians (Anderson and Rees, 224). Therefore Utah's passing of the law would enable the state to be the third state in the category approving medical cannabis being used to treat the ailing and sick people who have minimal sets of approved health conditions (Leinweber et al., 3616).
Support of the proposal would be appropriate given that Medical marijuana has the capability of relieving some distress from significant numbers of very sick people and it requires medical supervision to do so (Kim, 23). The substance has minor evidence of causing some considerable health risk when a person smokes it (Kim et al., 2035). For many years of intake of medical marijuana, there have been no claimed cases of emphysema or lung cancer attributed to medical marijuana (Anderson and Rees, 224). Therefore, irrespective of the strong support towards the Utah Proposal 2, the legislature has not been ready to pass a working law that would avoid the treatment of patients as criminals (Sevigny, 58).
The Utah Medical Cannabis Act is a carefully designed bill with the consideration of Utah values (Sevigny, 58). Patients who smoke marijuana tend to improve their immune system and they also increase their body weight (Kim et al., 2035). Doctors administered medical marijuana to patients on a compassionate and caring basis (Anderson and Rees, 224). It is apparent that no other medication has the same mechanisms of action similar to marijuana (Mark et al., 496). Medical marijuana results in psychological dependence, and when use stops, there is no addiction (Anderson and Rees, 224). Medical marijuana is more available compared to hard drugs (Simkins and Geiger-Oneto, 28). Different types of marijuana properly treat different patients depending on their specific ailments. There exists excellent lab testing of medical marijuana for the medical practitioner to prescribe the right medical marijuana with the right content (Kim et al., 2035). Medical marijuana helps HIV patients regain weight and appetite (Mark et al., 496). It is apparent that the legalization of marijuana for medical use leads to the improvement of the economy where producers and sellers make high profits, thus contributing to government revenue (Leinweber et al., 3616). Medical marijuana is useful in the treatment of hepatitis C. Therefore; the proposal contains the responsible regulations that would make sure that only patients with relevant health conditions can acquire the legal access to medical marijuana (Wang and Cataldo, 207).
The Act offers law enforcement significant oversight and uses several restrictions to reduce abuse (Sevigny, 58). The state would strictly continue prohibiting the use of cannabis for recreational purposes. Such implementation of the medical marijuana would continue being prosecuted as per the law (Simkins and Geiger-Oneto, 28). Besides, patients with some illnesses will have to access medical marijuana through doctor's supervision (Kim et al., 2035). Such ailments comprise of PTSD, HIV/AIDS, Cancer, Epilepsy, Autism, Chronic pain, Crohn’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, ALS, and Alzheimer’s disease (Sevigny, 58; Leinweber et al., 3616). Those people in Utah suffering from the above illnesses are supposed to be criminalized if other people suffering from the same diseases can get symptom relief within the state and the one offering safe, official use of cannabis-related treatments (Mark et al., 496). According to the argument put forth by Frankel, (125), the formation of medical refugees of the Utah sick people and requiring them to leave their support network in the primary state to get relief elsewhere is identified as a violation of human rights. There is an effective way of avoiding treating patients like criminals, and this would be voting in support of the medical patients by being in favor of the Proposition 2 or the Utah Medical Cannabis Act (Kim et al., 2035). Therefore, to end the negative medical climate concerning the use of medical marijuana, voters need to pass Proposition 2 (Frankel, 125).
However, Proposition 2 might focus on enriching some individuals through the Utah Medical Cannabis Act, as some officials in charge of allowing access to the cannabis would take the set fund (Simkins and Geiger-Oneto, 28). Those who will have direct access to medical marijuana are likely to gain wealth at the expense of the individuals having severe health conditions (Kim et al., 2035). The people advocating for people living with severe and continued illnesses are discriminative (Simkins and Geiger-Oneto, 28). If the Proposition 2 is passed, some fear that the Act might cause an increased level of marijuana smoking in Utah through subjecting more sick people to severe symptoms that might increase the number of the individuals who claim to be in need of medical marijuana (Kim et al., 2035).
Proposition 2 is also costly since raising around $127,932.84 only for the legalization of medical marijuana means that more expenses would be met for the proper running of the program (Simkins and Geiger-Oneto, 28). The proposition is not necessary given that the polling process will also incur high expenditure (Kim, 23). The practice will be associated with unnecessary administrative costs similarly with the measure approval (Kim et al., 2035). Indeed, legislative changes to Proposition 2 would need to be addressed by the legislature after the conduct of the November election, especially after the approval of the measure (Wang and Cataldo, 207).
Proposition 2 does not address the systemic problems such as inadequate state protection against illegal smoking of marijuana and this makes it impossible to identify those patients with medical cards (Mark et al., 496). Indeed, meeting the costs and expenses associated with the authorization of medical marijuana would overburden people in Utah (Leinweber et al., 3616). The creation of a medical marijuana policy would be necessary for all the Utah people (Simkins and Geiger-Oneto, 28). Indeed, given that 16 states have already legalized the use of cannabis oil, which is among the non-psychoactive ingredients accessible in marijuana and used for medical purposes, Utah should also pass the legalization of medical marijuana (Mark et al., 496).
The ballot process that would be followed in the state would require individuals to participate in the process similar to how they engage in the presidential elections (Mark et al., 496). Signatures will initially be collected to identify the percentage of supporters and that of the proposers (Frankel, 125). Different hearings will have to be considered within Utah concerning the particular initiative (Wang and Cataldo, 207). The discussions would be meant to legalize the amount of cannabis that patients in health conditions would be required to access and the one that the caregivers will be allowed to transport (Kim, 23). Besides, the hearing will be aimed at deciding the dosages that would have to be regulated, the dispensaries that will have the mandate to govern the use of cannabis, and the specific medical conditions that the marijuana will be restricted (Wang and Cataldo, 207). Indeed, legal action will have to be taken for effective authorization of medical marijuana in Utah (Kim et al., 2035).
In conclusion, Proposition 2 is meant to pass legal access to medical marijuana by patients in Utah. Also, not legalizing the recreational marijuana would serve as a limitation to prevent people from smoking cannabis unnecessarily. The polling process will require people in Utah to vote yes or no based on personal reasons, and the federal prosecutor will also be involved in the final decision-making process to make it clear if the medical marijuana needs to be legalized. Based on the medical benefits associated with medical marijuana, it would be necessary to pass the act. Utah would also need to consider the need of stopping the treatment of patients such as criminals and emphasize on the issuing of medical cards to the patients who would be allowed to grow and use medical marijuana. However, it would be necessary for the federal law to ensure that Utah people stop smoking marijuana for recreational purposes or through illegal purposes.
Works Cited
Anderson, D. Mark, and Daniel I. Rees. "The Legalization of Recreational Marijuana: How Likely is the Worst‐Case Scenario?." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 33.1 (2014): 221-232.
Frankel, Amanda. "Dr. Green Thumb Goes to Washington: A Scientific Argument for the Legalization of Medical Marijuana." Seton Hall Cir. Rev. 14 (2017): 125.
Kim, Gook Jin. Policy Innovation and Diffusion through Policy Typologies: Examining the Predictors of Medical Marijuana Legalization in States. Diss. The Florida State University, 2016.
Kim, June H., et al. "State Medical Marijuana Laws and the Prevalence Of Opioids Detected Among Fatally Injured Drivers." American journal of public health 106.11 (2016): 2032-2037.
Leinweber, Jacob P., et al. "Newly Incident Cannabis Use in the United States, 2002–2011: A Regional and State Level Benchmark." PeerJ 5 (2017): e3616.
Macdonald, Angela. "Why Marijuana is not Regulated Like Alcohol in Colorado: A Warning For States Seeking To Legalize Recreational Marijuana." Utah L. Rev. OnLaw (2015): 1.
Mark Anderson, D., Benjamin Hansen, and Daniel I. Rees. "Medical Marijuana Laws and Teen Marijuana Use." American Law and Economics Review 17.2 (2015): 495-528.
Sevigny, Eric L. "The Effects of Medical Marijuana Laws on Cannabis-Involved Driving." Accident Analysis " Prevention 118 (2018): 57-65.
Simkins, Travis, and Stephanie Geiger-Oneto. "A Social Identity Perspective on the Legalization of Marijuana in the United States." Annual Macromarketing Conference. 2015.
Wang, Julie B., and Janine K. Cataldo. "Medical Marijuana Legalization and Co-Use in Adult Cigarette Smokers." American Journal of Health Behavior 40.2 (2016): 205-214.
Wen, Hefei, Jason M. Hockenberry, and Janet R. Cummings. "The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on Adolescent and Adult Use Of Marijuana, Alcohol, and Other Substances." Journal of Health Economics 42 (2015): 64-80.
