Director of TriCounty Health Jordan Mathis presented and answered questions at the Vernal Chamber luncheon on Tuesday concerning the Utah Medical Cannabis Act that was passed in December 2018. The passing of HB 3001 gives the state
until March 1st, 2020
to have most elements of the program operational, including a system in place for the issuance of medical cannabis patient cards and the licensing of medical cannabis pharmacies. Qualified medical providers must meet certain continuing education requirements and then will be able to recommend a patient for treatment with medical cannabis. The distribution of the actual product will center around a State Central Fill Pharmacy that will be a closed-door pharmacy that ships patient orders to one of 13 local health department locations where patients can pick up their order. Mathis explained that patients in northeastern Utah could have their order shipped to the Vernal TriCounty Health location for pick up during regular business hours. Mathis also explained that right now the law states that there can be up to 10 private Medical Cannabis Pharmacies in the entire state in addition to the Health Department pickup locations. When asked if the Vernal area would have their own private pharmacy location, Mathis said that the likelihood is pretty low. For more information on Medical Cannabis in Utah, visit
health.utah.gov/medicalcannabis
.
