Herbert, Hatch favor more research on medical marijuana

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SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Gary Herbert on Wednesday said he thinks medical marijuana will eventually be legalized in Utah.

The governor remained skeptical of medicinal pot, though, saying more research needs to be done on the true medicinal value of the drug.

“If we get the science to back up the fact there is, in fact, a medicinal use for marijuana — that it actually does cure pain, that it has an application as medicine — if the science justifies that, I think it will become legalized," Herbert said at South Hills Middle School on Wednesday.

Herbert was at the school in Riverton for a question and answer session with advanced placement students at the school. The governor was asked about medical marijuana after the event as a follow-up to a question he was asked by a student during the Q&A.

Herbert said he sees a place for medicinal marijuana in the future as long as it’s prescribed by a doctor and distributed by a pharmacist.

“If it is used appropriately … there is probably a role for marijuana to play as a medicine,” Herbert said. “I think most people agree, that’s just, I think, common sense.”

He said polls indicate a slight majority of Utahns favor legalization of medical marijuana.

Across the country, 30 states, including the District of Columbia, allow medical marijuana use.

In Utah, the special-interest group Utah Patients Coalition is gathering signatures for a medical marijuana ballot initiative. The ballot question would ask Utah voters if medical marijuana should be legalized.

As of Thursday, Utah Patients Coalition said on Twitter it had gathered 85,000 signatures. The group needs to collect about 113,000 signatures by April 15 in order to get the question on the state ballot in this fall’s election, according to the Utah Patients Coalition website.

On Thursday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded an Obama administration policy that allowed marijuana sales to flourish in states that legalized pot.

Now, Sessions will allow federal prosecutors to make their own decisions when state rules on marijuana contradict federal drug laws.

The decision prompted a response from the office of U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch.

In a statement on Twitter, Hatch spokesman Matt Whitlock said the senator, like Herbert, believes in the need for more research to determine marijuana’s medicinal value.

Hatch also favors fewer restrictions on the industry, Whitlock said.

“Senator Hatch encourages the Department of Justice to remove bureaucratic red tape — not put up roadblocks — to allow our nation’s top medical researchers to study the potential medicinal benefits of marijuana,” he said.

Wednesday, Herbert said it was bothersome that the Obama administration chose to disregard the federal laws.

“We ought not to just ignore the federal law right now,” Herbert said. “We still have a prohibition on the recreational use of marijuana.”

Herbert acknowledged “anecdotal” success stories involving medical marijuana use, but he questioned their validity.

The governor said he spoke with a man who told him smoking marijuana was helping him with some pain he was experiencing due to head injuries. The man joked that either the marijuana truly was easing his pain, or it made him just not care anymore, Herbert said.

“The truth of the matter is, does it help with pain, or does it put us in a state of mind that we don’t care,” he said. “What is the truth of the science?”