Utah: Cannabis Oil Coming to Liquor Stores?

In an effort to protect parents of epileptic children in Utah from federal prosecution, a lawmaker has proposed that CBD extract, commonly referred to as cannabis oil, be made available in liquor stores across the state.

Senator Steve Urquhart, who co-sponsored the measure allowing parents with epileptic kids limited to keep medical marijuana extracts, says that while the state made substantial progress by decriminalizing the possession of cannabis oil, he is concerned the law does not provide these people with a shield against federal prosecution if they get busted smuggling medicine across the state line.

Although there is nothing written in Utah’s medical marijuana law that allows parents to be their child’s personal apothecary through home cultivation, the law gives them the legal right to possess and transport cannabis oil. However, without a local source for obtaining this medicine, many parents are throwing caution to the wind and traveling into neighboring Colorado to stock up, opening them up to a drug trafficking shakedown courtesy of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

“We’re trying to look for ways to help these parents out. We realize this is a really rough situation they’re in and a really rough situation for their kids. Have we been helpful enough or should we go further?” Urquhart told The Denver Post. “Obviously, if they can get it, but get it in the state with the state’s blessing, then that’s probably easier than having them have to travel.”

It is for this reason that Senator Urquhart believes selling high-CBD cannabis oil in local liquor stores could provide a sensible solution for all parties involved. He says it would provide parents with a convenient and safe method for obtaining life-saving medicine for their children while giving the state complete regulatory control.

But why a liquor store as opposed to a more conventional dispensary like a pharmacy?

Senator Urquhart says that as long as there exists the possibility that the federal government could swoop in and seize a pharmacist’s bank accounts or suspend his license, no traditional pharmacy would dare touch this concept with a ten-foot-pole.

“Right now, DEA seems pretty hands off on CBD oil, but nothing guarantees they’re going to remain that way,” said Urquhart. “So this is one of those states’ rights bills, where we have parents who are suffering, we have children who are suffering, we think the federal laws are blind to their plight, so as a state we’re going to authorize certain things.”

While Urquhart is working on several concepts to help parents obtain cannabis oil, he hopes families will be able to gain access to medicine without him having to introduce further legislation.