This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Thursday, November 18th, 2021.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Utah has medical cannabis, while more than a

robust-than-Doh not. So how did this traditionally conservative state do it and why is it reasonable to think that at least for Utah,

a robust medical program may be the long-run steady state for cannabis policy.

And most importantly, how well is their program serving patients?

Molly Davis is executive director of the Utah Cannabis Association and a policy analyst at the Libertis Institute, we talked

about medical cannabis in the Beehive State. In 2018, Utah passed medical

cannabis and I think that surprised a lot of people given the reputation

that Utah has this was at least a little surprising so what was in terms of

getting it over the hump what was the thing what made this

salient valuable issue for voters? You're absolutely right that in Utah it was

unexpected because our state is made up of a supermajority

conservatives who are largely part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

And one thing that really helped is with how medical and patient-focused

this whole campaign really was.

We didn't appeal to the recreational arguments at all.

We really made it about taking the pain away from those who are suffering and in that

conversation we were able to eventually get the approval of the Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter Day Saints and they ended up putting in their handbook that it was okay for their members to use as medicine with doctor

approval which made a lot of Utahans feel far more comfortable with it and it really

pushed it past the finish line and we got it fully implemented in 2019.

...