SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Medical marijuana backers are moving forward with a ballot initiative to ask Utah voters directly to pass a broad medical marijuana law next year.
The Utah Patients Coalition got state approval Thursday to start collecting the 113,143 voter signatures for the ballot initiative in November 2018. The group has until April 15 to collect the signatures.
Coalition members say they’re done waiting for lawmakers who rejected proposals to pass a broad medical cannabis law three years in a row.
The coalition wants Utah to join 29 other states that allow marijuana to be dispensed and used as a treatment.
The proposed initiative would set up state-regulated growing and dispensing of marijuana for use by residents with about a dozen types of conditions, including cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder.
