A Utah proposal that would allow universities to study medical marijuana has cleared its first committee meeting.

Members of a House health and human services committee voted unanimously Monday in favor of the plan, saying the research would help to flesh out when the drug should be prescribed, how much should be administered and its potential side effects.

Utah Medical Association CEO Michelle McOmber spoke in favor of the bill, saying more scientific studies are needed before marijuana can be considered a medicine.

More than two dozen states have passed comprehensive medical marijuana programs, but Utah lawmakers said last week that they’re not ready to pass a broad medical marijuana law allowing people to use the drug.

Republican Rep. Brad Daw thinks the dozens of states that have implemented medical marijuana laws have approached the issue incorrectly.

Instead of determining what constitutes medicine through science and research, Daw said, they have done so through legislative or initiative-bound mandate.

"It became clear to me that we need to do it the right way," said Daw, from Orem. "Let's let the research be the guiding factor to decide what is medicine and what is not."

Lawmakers took a first step to that goal Monday, when a House committee unanimously approved Daw's measure allowing for expanded research into medical marijuana in the state.

More than half of US states—28—have legalized medical marijuana. Sixty percent of Americans support legalization, according to an October 2016 Gallup poll—including 42% of Republicans. Some of these cannabis supporters live in conservative states, and some are even in their state’s legislature, supporting marijuana reform measures.

The Utah Medical Association not only wants to stop marijuana from becoming legal for medical use in Utah, it wants reporters to stop using the term "medical marijuana."

But Cristine Steinquist has a brain tumor and says marijuana helps.

"It helps the nausea and the pain," she said.

But according to doctors, anecdotal stories do not make something medical. 

U.S. News Updates

Arkansas

Utah state legislators began laying the groundwork Wednesday to make another run at legalizing medical marijuana for people with certain conditions.

During a committee hearing, four Republican lawmakers presented outlines of measures they’re planning to introduce at the next legislation session that they hope can work in concert. The measures would expand legal uses of medical marijuana, create a regulatory framework to manage a program from growth to distribution, and allow for more local research to study marijuana’s impacts for different medical conditions.

Sen. Brian Shiozawa, R-Salt Lake City, urged his colleagues to take action next session, saying veterans with PTSD and cancer patients are two groups that may benefit.

Study from: 

Projectknow.com (http://www.projectknow.com/)

original study here :

http://www.projectknow.com/discover/high-school-drug-use/

American teenagers are more likely to smoke marijuana than binge drink, a new report reveals.

Meanwhile in Europe, marijuana consumption is minimal while drinking levels are far higher than in the United States.

The data, published in a recent report by addiction-awareness firm Project Know, will reignite the national debate on marijuana legalization as the election approaches.

SALT LAKE CITY — It didn't go anywhere in the legislative session, but a new poll shows if a majority of Utahns get their way, medical marijuana will eventually be legalized in the Beehive State.

A poll released Wednesday says two-thirds of the state is in favor of legalizing medical marijuana. Some say it's not that easy to just legalize it, but others argue it's time to help patients.

“There is movement and there is hope,” said Christine Stenquist, President of TRUCE and candidate for the House of Representatives.

For years, Christine Stenquist has advocated for Utah patients like herself in need of medical marijuana.

Early results indicate trial participants saw a 40 percent decrease in frequency and severity of seizures.

Pharmaceutical-grade cannabis already is providing some with severe epilepsy relief less than two years after clinical trials began in Utah.

The University of Utah's Division of Pediatric Neurology and Primary Children's Medical Center began in September 2014 the first of three separate clinical trials involving Epidiolex, a liquid, purified form of cannabidiol (CBD), which is a nonpsychoactive chemical in marijuana.

Early results indicate trial participants have seen about a 40 percent decrease in the frequency and severity of seizures, said neurologist Francis Filloux, an author on the study.