Backers of Utah Medical Marijuana Initiative Reach Deal With Legislative Leaders, LDS Church Representatives, and Utah Medical Association
Regardless of Proposition 2’s outcome, a compromise medical cannabis bill will be enacted during a special session after the 2018 election
The Marijuana Policy Project has been assisting the Utah Patients Coalition since its inception in early 2017
SALT LAKE CITY — Backers of the Utah medical marijuana initiative joined other organizations and lawmakers at a press conference Thursday to announce they have reached an agreement on an alternative medical cannabis law that will be enacted in a special session following the election.
Proposition 2 will still appear on the 2018 ballot, but it will no longer determine the final outcome for Utah medical cannabis patients.
“We strongly support the compromise that has been reached because it will ensure a workable medical cannabis law is enacted and implemented in Utah,” said Matthew Schweich, deputy director of the Marijuana Policy Project, which played a significant role in drafting Proposition 2 and made large contributions to fund the successful signature drive.
“While it is difficult to walk away from a campaign after 18 months of hard work, this deal is undoubtedly a victory for Utah patients and their families,” Schweich said. “In Utah, a statutory ballot initiative can be amended or even repealed by a simple majority in the Legislature. If Proposition 2 passed without any agreement on next steps, patients may have been left waiting years to access legal medical cannabis. This compromise eliminates that uncertainty and ensures legislative leaders are committed to making the law work.”
The compromise bill differs from Proposition 2 in a number of ways. It does not allow home cultivation, allows fewer dispensaries, and adds several regulations, including dosage requirements. The negotiations were spearheaded by Utah Patients Coalition campaign director Connor Boyack and treasurer DJ Schanz. MPP staff were consulted during the negotiations, and the organization’s state policies director, Karen O’Keefe, provided important analysis that improved the final compromise legislation.
“The Utah Patients Coalition did an excellent job and fought to include as many provisions of Proposition 2 as possible in the compromise legislation,” Schweich said. “The compromise bill, while not ideal and cumbersome in certain respects, is workable and provides a path for Utah patients to legally access medical cannabis, including whole-plant products.
“This campaign was never about notching up another election victory,” Schweich said. “Our goal was simply to help medical cannabis patients in Utah who are being treated like criminals as they seek to alleviate their suffering. With this compromise, we have achieved that goal.”
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The Marijuana Policy Project is the nation’s largest marijuana policy organization. It has been a leading advocate for federal marijuana policy reform since its founding in 1995, and it has played a leading role in most major state-level reforms that have occurred over the past two decades. For more information, visit https://www.MPP.org.
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Salt Lake City, UT (October 4, 2018) — Libertas Institute has been involved in medical cannabis reform for five years, having started the effort in 2013. Since then, we have been heavily involved in shaping the policy proposals, and providing the strategy and messaging, that were part of Senator Madsen's legislative efforts and now Proposition 2. Our goal is to ensure patients are not treated as criminals.
To that end, we have been negotiating with Prop 2 opponents for several weeks to identify areas of common ground and determine if there were ways to make amendments that would resolve concerns while preserving patient access. We have reached that goal.
Below is a statement that may be attributed to Connor Boyack, president of Libertas Institute:
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In the year 2000, Utah voters overwhelmingly passed a ballot initiative designed to make it harder for law enforcement to take property from innocent people under a law known as civil asset forfeiture. It passed overwhelmingly. But soon after the vote, opponents began working to undermine that result. Almost two decades later, forfeiture critics continue fighting to restore and honor the intent of that ballot initiative.
Supporters of proposition 2 face that same prospect — a positive vote in November, followed by many years of battles as opponents work to undermine the result.
Libertas Institute helped begin the medical cannabis reform effort in Utah five years ago. Since that time, we have been deeply involved in the shaping of what was Senator Madsen’s bill, and then what eventually became Proposition 2. We have collectively spent thousands of hours working with and for patients in need. Our vice president, DJ Schanz, took a leave of absence to coordinate the entire campaign as director of the Utah Patients Coalition. Our family and friends are deeply affected by this issue, and it matters to us a great deal.
But we don’t want to fight over this issue for years to come. We want to find solutions to ensure patients get reliable access to the medicine they need without being treated as criminals. We don’t want to win the battle in November only to potentially lose the war. More to the point, we don’t want there to be a war.
To that end, and at the request of Speaker Hughes, we entered into a dialogue with a select number of Prop 2’s opponents, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to determine if there was an opportunity to find middle ground.
During over 40 hours of these discussions, we found common ground on key principles. In these negotiated modifications to Prop 2, patient access is preserved while resolving opponent’s concerns about the potential misuse of cannabis.
With this agreement, a TRUCE has been forged. A prolonged battle and war can be avoided. We can let the election pass, however Prop 2 is voted on, and move forward to enact this agreement that all sides can live with.
We appreciate the Speaker’s eagerness to facilitate these discussions, and the Governor’s agreement to call a special session that will allow us to quickly find resolution and then begin enacting this important program to benefit the sick and suffering among us.
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About Libertas Institute
Libertas Institute is a free market think tank that collaborates with a diverse group of organizations and allies to create a freer Utah, effecting change through legal research, public advocacy and advertising, lawsuits against government, events, publications, and more.
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4 Ways Family Businesses Can Thrive Through Multiple Generations
While public corporations attract more media attention, family businesses also make a major impact on the U.S. and world economies.
Family firms comprise more than half of all U.S. companies and generate at least 50 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, according to the Harvard Business School. And two-thirds of businesses around the world are family-owned, The Family Firm Institute reports.
The flip side: About 70 percent of family-owned businesses in the U.S. and worldwide fail, or are sold, before the second generation can assume ownership. And only 10-15 percent make it to generation three.
“Family business that do survive are the ones willing to keep an eye on new horizons,” says Raméz Baassiri, author of Interrupted Entrepreneurship: Embracing Change in the Family Business (www.ramezbaassiri.com).
Baassiri, who helps run a multi-generational, multi-national family business, says being open to change and innovation is one key to keeping a business relevant and successful throughout generations.
“Just because a business model or product has worked in the past doesn’t mean it will continue to do so,” Baassiri says. “Stagnancy or struggle provide an opportunity to negotiate a different path. Family businesses need to confront market realities and consider disruptive new things in order to move forward.”
Baassiri provides four ways family businesses can survive and grow from generation to generation:
“When a family business grows,” Baassiri says, “it is because the family members aren’t looking at it as a cow to milk, but as a whole farm that they can work together.”
About Raméz Baassiri
Raméz Baassiri, author of Interrupted Entrepreneurship: Embracing Change in the Family Business (www.ramezbaassiri.com), is a board member of a multinational, multigenerational family business. Raméz is a firm believer in education through storytelling—a concept that can, and does, change the world for the better.
