Happy five-year anniversary, Utah! Can you believe we have a Medical Cannabis program in this state at all? Or that we have had it for five years now? Let’s reminisce on the past five years of the Utah Medical Cannabis program and look ahead to the next five years.
How the Utah Medical Cannabis Program Has Changed Since 2020
Recommendation Letters & EVS Issues: Prior to January 2021, the Utah Medical Cannabis Card technically didn’t exist. QMPs would provide recommendation letters to patients with qualifying conditions that they presented at the pharmacies. This was primarily enacted as a Band-Aid fix to an underperforming, confusing electronic verification system (EVS) preventing many from successfully registering for an actual card. There are now five different types of Medical Cannabis Cards, and luckily, the EVS website has drastically improved. (But if you need assistance, one thing that hasn’t changed since 2020 is the UtahMarijuana.org promise to help patients find safe access to plant-medicine. Call us up anytime and our friendly Care Team will walk you through the process start to finish.)
Restrictions & Regulations: Utah has cracked down on legal regulations over the years, too. Prior to 2021, Utahns were permitted to possess cannabis products purchased out-of-state, just so long as they had a recommendation letter from a QMP. Today, patients must purchase their medicine from an approved Medical Cannabis pharmacy to be legal. They are also highly encouraged to keep their labels and receipts when they purchase so that they can prove they’ve done legally so if questioned. A software, MJ Freeway, keeps track of every bit of product produced in Utah, from seed to sale, to monitor quality control, prevent overselling, and ensure compliance. While some disagree with this level of state interference and surveillance, it’s not unexpected. I mean, shoot, just look at our liquor laws.
Expanded Patient Access: On the first day of the Utah Medical Cannabis Program, patients had one pharmacy to choose from: Dragonfly Wellness in downtown Salt Lake City. Today, you’ll find fifteen different Medical Cannabis pharmacies, or dispensaries, scattered throughout the state. Nearly half of them are concentrated to Salt Lake and Utah County (Beehive Farmacy SLC, Bloc Pharmacy South Jordan, Dragonfly Wellness, Curaleaf Lehi, Curaleaf Payson, Curaleaf Provo, and The Forest), while the remaining eight are scattered across the state in Box Elder, Carbon, Cache, Davis, Iron, Summit, Washington, and Weber County (Beehive Farmacy Brigham City, Dragonfly Wellness Price, The Flower Shop Logan, WholesomeCo Cannabis, Zion Medicinals, Curaleaf Park City, Bloc Pharmacy St. George, and The Flower Shop Ogden, respectively). For those folks who live far away from a pharmacy, can’t physically make it to one, or let’s face it, just would rather not leave the house for their medicine, home delivery covers nearly the entire state as well. A handful of local cannabis pharmacies will deliver your medicine right to your door, some even offering same day and free delivery with a minimum purchase.
Program Growth: Patient and provider counts have soared over the years. Do you remember how difficult it was to find a Qualified Medical Provider? Now you can choose from 960 QMPs across the state to manage your cannabis care. This has helped bring the program to thousands of patients across Utah — just over 94,000, according to a report put out by the Utah Department of Health and Human Services in January 2025. Salt Lake County has held strong in the lead in highest number of active patients over the years, now home to nearly 38,000 cardholders. (Fun fact: the county with the least number of cannabis patients? Daggett. Shoutout to the 14 cardholders holding it down out there for us. We see you and we salute you!)
Hopes & Dreams for the Future
While the Utah Medical Cannabis Program has grown substantially in the past five years, it still leaves much to be desired. Patients and others in the space still advocate for the right to grow cannabis, a clause many expected to initially be included in the law. Removal of this restriction would not only get rid of the cost barrier to safe access for many, but it would also allow for patients in incredibly rural areas outside of dispensary range to participate in the program as well.
Speaking of cost, it’s way too high (and not in a good way). Though it’s getting better, the average cost of cannabis in Utah is still quite a bit higher than surrounding states. According to a market analysis put out by the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, around 60% of Utah Medical Cannabis program patients get their cannabis from sources other than state-sanctioned pharmacies. This is a huge disservice to Utah patients, many of whom got their Medical Cannabis Cards to medicate legally are now turning to illegal activity again because they can’t afford dispensary prices. They are quite literally risking it for the (Gorilla) biscuit and putting their livelihoods in jeopardy and they deserve better. (However, if you factor in the cost of gas, the cost of product, and the cost of a potential drug charge if you are pulled over, it is not much cheaper.)
Finally, to further emphasize the medical aspect of this program, we need to improve product availability and continuity. If we’re using cannabis as a medicine (and we are, of course, in the Utah Medical Cannabis program), we need to treat it like a medicine in every way. Far too often, Utah cannabis patients search far and wide for a product that works for their condition only to have that product be pulled from the market shortly after it arrived. That may work in a recreational market, but medical patients need continuity. If Blue Dream gummies help the 74-year-old pain patient sleep for the first time in years, imagine their disappointment when it’s out of stock for months. They’re either back to the drawing board to find a new strain, or potentially to find a new treatment entirely. It’s not fair and frankly, it’s not medicine.
Here’s to the Next Five Years
So here we are. Five years into the Utah Medical Cannabis Program and while we’ve come a long way, we’ve still got some growing to do. We here at UtahMarijuana.org hope to see expansion in access and availability sooner rather than later. If you’re interested in getting a Medical Cannabis Card, come visit us at our affiliated clinic, KindlyMD. For more information about the Utah Medical Cannabis program, visit the Utah Department of Health and Human Services program website.
