November 2019 | Vol. 19 Iss. 11
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STATE BINDS CITY’S/HOSPITAL’S HANDS ON MEDICAL CANNABIS By Shaun Delliskave | s.delliskave@mycityjournals.com
I
f you are a patient at Intermountain Medical Center (IMC) and your doctor believes you can best be treated with medicinal cannabis, you will need to leave the building and pretty much all of Murray to pick up the prescription. Utah’s state legislature passed a law requiring all cities to amend their municipal code to restrict areas where pharmacies could dispense medical marijuana; Murray City Council adopted the change at the Oct. 4 city council meeting. Sen. Evan Vickers of Cedar City helped pass Utah Code, Section 26-61a-102. It restricts medical cannabis pharmacies from being located within 600 feet of a community location like a public or private school, church, public library, public playground or public park, or within an area that is zoned as primarily residential. With these restrictions, Intermountain Healthcare’s IMC and The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital, and the University of Utah’s Midvalley Health Center fall easily within that prohibited zoning. Consequently, the vast majority of Murray would not be open to such a pharmacy, the exceptions being the industrial warehouse areas near 4500 South. Community and Economic Development Director Melinda Greenwood reported at the Sept. 5 planning commission meeting, “These businesses are looking for a location to operate and have a very limited circle of opportunity. Additional complications associated with hospitals are because medical cannabis is still against federal law, and these essentially have to be stand-alone locations. You won’t see this product in a corner pharmacy store or in hospitals because they can’t comply with other regulations for dispensing medications that are
City Councilman and medical cannabis user Brett Hales offered the motion to amend city code to be compliant with a state statue restricting medical cannabis pharmacies. (Shaun Delliskave/City Journals)
not legal through the federal laws.” Industrial manufacturing zones generally run through the center of Murray, accessed by significant roads and freeways, and Murray has seen much interest from pharmacies and cultivators. But Murray City has rezoned many agricultural zones to be residential zones; therefore, pharmacies have limited op-
tions around the hospitals. Planning Commissioner Maren Patterson stated, “… municipalities are being mandated to comply, and we should keep as much control as possible, but the places that are being allowed to dispense as a pharmacy are in an odd part of town that you have to go to get your Continued page 5
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