BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. — Chicago-based travel agent and mother-of-four Lynn Farrell represents a kind of worst-case scenario for Colorado’s ski towns and resorts.

“Who really wants to ski where everybody’s stoned?,” asks Farrell, president of Windy City Travel. “It is a concern.”

Utah's Legislature has two messages for the federal government: End the direct election of U.S. senators and allow marijuana research.

On Wednesday, the Utah House joined the Senate in passing resolutions urging the repeal of the 17th Amendment and the reclassification of marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule II drug.

"The federal government is way, way behind on realizing that there are some medical possibilities with cannabis," said Orem Republican Rep. Brad Daw, who sponsored the marijuana resolution, SCR11.

Daw's resolution received the unanimous support of the House, following a similar vote in the Senate last month.

Against all odds, a medical marijuana bill is advancing in the Utah State Legislature.

The Utah State Senate voted 17-12 to approve Senate Bill 73, sponsored by Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Saratoga Springs. It allows patients with certain ailments (such as cancer, AIDS, epilepsy and chronic pain) to use marijuana edibles, extracts and oils under the direction of a doctor.

Madsen said during Thursday's debate his latest version of the bill clears up the definition of "cannabis", and adds child-proofing standards, dosing regulations and other considerations.

SALT LAKE CITY — Tears filled Enedina Stanger's eyes as she watched the Utah Senate pass a controversial medical marijuana bill that she says won't help her but would help thousands of Utahns.

"This is a win for Utah. This is a win for love and compassion," the former West Weber woman said from her wheelchair after the 17-12 vote. "This is such a miracle."

Stanger, who has a rare connective tissue disorder called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, moved with her husband, Michael, and two young daughters to Colorado last December for access to medical cannabis.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah state senators gave preliminary approval Monday to a medical marijuana proposal that would legalize edible, vapor and topical pot products.

Lawmakers voted 15-13 to advance the bill, saying the measure could help those with certain debilitating conditions who have not found relief through other medications.

Bill sponsor Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Eagle Mountain, said the plan would allow tens of thousands of residents with those medical conditions to use the drug but would ban smoking it.

Madsen expects a final Senate vote Tuesday. If approved, the measure must still be passed by Utah’s House of Representatives.

When the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced its opposition to SB73, Sen. Mark Madsen’s bill legalizing medical marijuana, it cited concern about “unintended consequences.”

Madsen responded by amending the bill to eliminate whatever uncertainty it originally contained. He crafted a sharply defined law to end the chronic suffering of thousands of Utahns — without opioids.

With the Utah State Legislature past the halfway mark of its session, Cache County’s legislators held to a common theme in their reports at the weekly constituent meeting Saturday morning: money.

“One thing I’ve always said when you’re looking at who’s supporting what issue is to follow the money,” Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, said when discussing medical marijuana legislation in the Senate. “If an initiative comes along to put marijuana legalization on the ballot, ask yourself where all the money is coming to pay for it, because I guarantee it will be lambasted with money. It’s not going to be these poor sick people, but the people who see money in selling the drug.”

Salt Lake City —

(KUTV) Enedina and Michael Stanger's hopes to move back to Utah were crushed when lawmakers made big changes to SB 73 - Utah's controversial medical marijuana bill.

In October, The Stanger's left their life in Utah behind to move to Colorado where marijuana is legal. Enedina needed cannabis for relief of severe symptoms caused by EDS a genetic disease that affects the body's connective tissue.

"It's really sad to be rejected by a community and by a culture and by a state that I love so much," said Enedina of having to leave.

The debate over medical marijuana in Utah will continue Monday after lawmakers ran out of time debating the issue Friday, the Associated Press reported. The Mormon church has come out against proposed legislation that would allow for marijuana use in edible or vapor form for medical purposes.