10PM: One medical marijuana bill set to advance, another hangs in the balance

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SALT LAKE CITY — One medical marijuana bill appears poised to advance, while the other remains a close call even after the sponsor reluctantly removed a key element Friday during back-to-back Utah Senate debates on the proposals.

And proponents of a ballot initiative continue to gear up should the Legislature not deliver the outcome they're looking for this year.

The Senate overwhelmingly supports Sen. Evan Vickers' go-slow approach, voting 26-3 to advance SB89 to a final vote next week. The bill limits use to the nonpsychoactive cannabis extract called cannabinoid, or CBD, building on a 2014 law that offered trial access to hemp oil for Utahns with epilepsy.

"I realize this is incremental. Incrementalism is not a bad thing," the Cedar City Republican said.

Sen. Mark Madsen's bill still hangs in the balance after time ran out on a lengthy debate that will continue Monday. The Saratoga Springs Republican made seven amendments to SB73 on the Senate floor, including removing use of the whole marijuana plant.

Only medical extracts would be used to help people with specified medical conditions, which Madsen lamented because it would make cannabis more expensive.

"This hurts," he said. "The greatest feeling I have now is that I don't want to let these people down."

Enedina Stanger watched in tears from her wheelchair in the Senate gallery as the amendment passed.

"It saves my life. If it saves my life, it'll save somebody else's life. I can't stop fighting for that," said the former South Weber resident who suffers from a rare connective tissue disease.

Stanger, her husband, Michael, and their two young daughters moved to Colorado in December to have access to medical marijuana, though the family wants to live in Utah.

Every vote to take out whole plant cannabis, she said, "was a vote to keep me a prisoner in Colorado … to keep us financially and emotionally and spiritually completely isolated and destroyed."

That change and others Madsen made to the bill make it more palatable for senators on the fence. At least one who voted against Madsen's proposal last year that went down 15-14 appears to have moved in his favor.

Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, said the amended bill is "getting very close to being right."

Madsen said afterward he feels a little more secure, but "it's going to be tight either way."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has voiced opposition to Madsen's proposal because the legalization of medical marijuana might have unintended consequences. The church has not objected to Vickers' bill.

Vickers said he decided early on to treat marijuana as medicine and has stuck to that. He said he realizes he's taking a slower, methodical path, but the state can't afford to make mistakes with something that lacks research.

"We need to have our eyes wide open as we contemplate the magnitude of this policy," Vickers said.

Madsen called CBD a "placebo" masquerading as a cure. "The only thing it will ease is our conscience," he said.

"For us as legislators, this is not a question of science," he said. "For us as legislators, this is really a question of criminal justice. Is it right, is it just, to put these sick people in jail?"

Sen. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, said it's a "great triumph" that lawmakers are debating two medical marijuana bills. He said he intends to vote for both bills and hopes there's a way to mesh them for the benefit of all Utahns.

Weiler warned that if the Legislature doesn't act on medical marijuana this year it would go on the election ballot for residents to decide.

Christine Stenquist, executive director of Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education, said a ballot initiative remains in play and would result in broader policies than the ones being proposed.

"We're just trying to make sure we're watching what happens legislatively, and if they don't listen to the will of the people, the people will speak," she told reporters.

If one or both bills pass the Senate, they face another battle in the House.

House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, wasn't ready to predict what would happen.

"I think there's a lot of amendments that are flying right now in the Senate, so we're not sure what form or fashion — one bill, two bills — that would make it over here," Hughes said. "So until we have some legislation and can read what it is that's being proposed, it's hard to say definitively what will happen."

But he said he believes Vickers' bill would have more support in the House even though there are still many questions about it, including the impact on the workplace.

"There's a lot of people motivated to have those questions answered," the speaker said, so action could be taken this session on what he described as a more measured approach. "There will be a full-court press felt here in the House."

Contributing: Lisa Riley Roche, Ladd Egan

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