New Poll Shows Most Utah Voters Support Marijuana Legalization, But Top GOP Lawmakers Reiterate Opposition To Reform
From toxifillers.com with love
A majority of Utah voters back legalizing marijuana, another new polls shows. But despite that support, the state’s top Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate are reiterating their opposition.
The survey from The Deseret News and Hinckley Institute of Politics, released on Sunday, is one of the latest to show that voters are ready for a policy change, with 53 percent of respondents agreeing that the state should enact adult-use cannabis legalization, including 30 percent who “strongly” embrace reform.
It also shows that an overwhelming 77 percent of voters support the state’s existing medical cannabis law.
In spite of the findings of the poll—which involved interviews with 805 registered Utah voters from May 16-21, with a +/-3.5 percentage point margin of error—GOP leadership in the legislature remains obstinate.
Senate President Stuart Adams (R) told The Desert News that “Utah already has a responsible, well-balanced and effective program that ensures individuals with chronic pain or serious illnesses have access while maintaining strong safeguards to prevent misuse.”
“States that have expanded legalization beyond medical use have seen serious social consequences, including increased homelessness and criminal activity,” he said. “I oppose further expansion because our focus should remain on what truly benefits our state and the well-being of all Utahns.”
House Speaker Mike Schultz (R) echoed that point, saying the state’s “current approach ensures Utahns have access to relief while maintaining important safeguards for public health and safety.”
“I remain firmly opposed to legalizing recreational marijuana,” he said, adding that it’s “encouraging to see that a strong majority of Utahns–77 percent–agree that our focus should remain on providing benefit to those who need it most.”
The survey findings largely resemble a separate March poll from Noble Predictive Insights, which was commissioned by the nonprofit Keep Utah Medical, found that 52 percent of registered Utah voters would support a ballot initiative to end cannabis prohibition.
Schultz, the House speaker, said in response to that survey he has a “huge problem with turning Utah into a recreational state” and “it’s not going to happen.”
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Meanwhile, last month Utah officials confirmed that the state reached a new milestone with its medical marijuana program, with more than 100,000 patients now registered.
State lawmakers have taken steps to build upon the state’s medical marijuana law in recent years.
Despite being known for its political conservatism, Utah’s legislature separately passed legislation last year authorizing a pilot program for hospitals to administer psilocybin and MDMA as an alternative treatment option. The governor let that law take effect without his signature last year.
Meanwhile, a federal judge in Utah recently ordered county law enforcement return psilocybin mushrooms that police seized from a Provo City-based religious group that uses the psychedelic fungi as sacrament.
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