States and U.S. territories are gradually giving approval to the use of Medical Cannabis. So it was only a matter of time before we started seeing legal issues related to employment drug screening. Such issues are now rearing their heads all across the country. The result is that drug screening laws are evolving, too.
It turns out that drug screening is mandatory in some industries and for certain types of jobs. It is voluntary for others. Either way, there are a certain group of employees who know they are subject to random drug screening as part of their jobs. Others just applying for jobs realize they may have to undergo a drug test before being offered a position.
So where do we stand with the law? It’s a mixed bag. But again, federal and state laws are evolving. Maybe someday we will have uniform law in every state.
The first thing that comes to mind is employment regulated at the federal level. There are certain industries that are subject to federal laws first, then state laws second. Interstate trucking is one of them. Our Constitution gives the federal government the authority to regulate all interstate commerce. This includes carrying goods across state lines on tractor-trailers.
As federally regulated employees, truck drivers are required to undergo regular drug testing – including testing for marijuana. Any trucker who fails a drug test can lose his or her license. No license, no job. While this is consistent with DOT rules, maybe there is a way to distinguish between unimpaired and impaired driving so that truckers don’t have to choose between work and their health.
The good news for workers is that most employment is not federally regulated. In such cases, it’s up to the states to decide what they want to do about drug testing. And in states where Medical Cannabis is legal, like Utah, the collective voice of the people matters. We can, and should, let our legislators know how we feel about mandatory drug screening at work.
Just remember that employers in nearly every industry have the legal right to require workers to take drug tests. Employers have a legal right to maintain a drug- and alcohol-free workplace. They also have an ethical responsibility and the right to limit their own liability. Somewhere in all this is a way to balance the needs and rights of both employers and employees.
Whether you’re talking regulated or non-regulated employment, the problem with drug testing is that it doesn’t offer an accurate picture of marijuana use. Unlike alcohol, which the body manages to flush completely in a matter of hours, marijuana leaves a trace behind for weeks. That’s due to THC.
THC can remain in a person’s blood stream for a very long time. A positive test showing the presence of THC would indicate that the person had used marijuana within the last couple of weeks. But that’s it. We don’t have tests capable of telling us the concentration of THC in a person’s blood. There is no reliable way to test if a Medical Marijuana user is currently high.
States have recognized the problem and are working on legislative fixes. In the meantime, there is no way for us to say for certain whether or not Medical Marijuana use could affect your job. We recommend speaking with your employer about it. See what the official company policy is and then go from there. Until legislators provide some clarity, employment drug screening will be an issue.
Have a question about Medical Marijuana or getting a card? Feel welcome to reach out to us or visit one of our clinic locations. We’re always excited to help!
You’ve heard it all year, I’m sure. “Get your card before it’s too late!” “Your letter expires in 2021!” “Beat the rush, register for your card before the end of the year!” Maybe you’ve heard this so often, you’ve become a little numb to it all. Or maybe you’ve thought, “Oh, I need to do that” but the holidays pushed this thought out of your mind. Don’t worry, you’ve still got time! But not much. We want you to stay legal, safe, and healthy. A couple of things change with the Utah Medical Cannabis program in January, so listen up.
Back in March when the Utah Medical Cannabis program launched, very few people in the state — I promise, that’s no exaggeration — 
understood how to apply for the card. Not only that, but the UDOH Medical Cannabis department had very few employees able to assist. So we had all these patients who had paid for their visits, expecting to buy cannabis, that got turned away at pharmacies because there wasn’t a way to verify their legal patient status. The state decided to put recommendation letters into play while they ironed out some of the kinks in the program. Because of this, patients could use one pharmacy with a signed letter from their provider. This was a big win for patients who desperately needed this treatment.
Since then, the Utah Medical Cannabis program grew larger than anyone expected, and we needed better verification methods. Come 2021, patient recommendation letters and affirmative defense letters will be old news. It’ll simply be a super sweet brag you can drop at parties — “I joined the program back when we had letters.”
Because you won’t get a letter, you can’t head directly to a pharmacy after your new patient appointment anymore. Instead, you’ll need to wait for your official state-issued Medical Cannabis Card to be approved and sent to you by the state before you can pick up your medicine. To make this process quick and painless for patients, our affiliated clinic, Utah Therapeutic Health Center, will shift their appointment flow to include EVS registration on site. This means that when you walk out of the office, you’ll have finished your state card application. That’ll get your card in your hands faster (usually 2-5 days in our experience). You’ll also have full access to their helpful patient experience team all along the way (for those of you that have attempted the EVS registration process alone, you probably already know how difficult and convoluted that can be without a little assistance). (Edit: Conditional Cards have since been introduced into the program to give patients access to their medicine while they wait for their Patient Medical Card. These are expected to launch Fall 2021.)
On the other hand, having your card right off the bat ensures full access to every Utah Medical Cannabis pharmacy and product in the 
state. After a while in the program, you start to find your favorite strains and products that work best for you. If your local pharmacy doesn’t carry it, you can head right on over to the next closest one with no hassle.
You’ll also have the option to skip the first-time visit with the pharmacist on staff at your Utah Medical Cannabis pharmacy. Because you’ll have an active EVS profile by the time you arrive, they’ll be able to see your QMP’s notes about dosing, recommended delivery method, etc. This makes it easier to simply “fill that prescription” for you. Having said that, please continue to chat with them if you see them! Medical Cannabis pharmacists and budtenders (or wellness associates, dispensary workers, whatever you’d like to call them) are very friendly and knowledgeable about the products they carry, and they’re always happy to help patients and answer their questions.
Finally, if you haven’t already, you’ll need to correct the way that you obtain your cannabis. Up to this point, recommendation letters and cards protected patients who possessed cannabis purchased in another state. By January 1, 2021, even with a legal Utah Medical Cannabis Card, you’ll need to purchase all your cannabis in Utah for you to really stay on the legal side of it. (Edit: this deadline has since been extended to June 30, 2021.) Keep in mind that if you ever get in trouble legally because of your cannabis, it’ll be up to you to prove that you have followed the law in this way. Because of this, we recommend holding on to your packaging and receipts, just to be safe (that’s not official legal advice, just a tip from your friendly neighborhood cannabis experts).
That’s all I’ve got for you so far. The program changes and grows all the time, and we here at utahmarijuana.org do our best to keep you informed. You can find updates on our blog like this and on our Utah Medical Cannabis FAQ page, so make sure to check them regularly. If you need assistance getting your card — whether your letter wasn’t written by a true QMP, your QMP isn’t sure how to certify you, or really anything else — check out our letter-to-card program. Or, if you need to get the ball rolling on becoming a Medical Cannabis patient in the first place, give us a call at 801.851.5554 or schedule an appointment online. We can’t wait to help you feel better and stay legal.
In November 2018, Utah Proposition 2, the Medical Marijuana Initiative, was approved. But post-election, Proposition 2 underwent multiple amendments in special legislative sessions, leading to today’s Utah Medical Cannabis Law, which allows access to Medical Marijuana for those with certain qualifying health conditions. The current law has restrictions that are absent from the original Proposition 2 that the people of Utah approved in the 2018 election. Here’s a guide to the evolution of Proposition 2 and how it affects Medical Cannabis users today.
Proposition 2 appeared on the ballot for Utah’s general election in November 2018. Before that, the only option for medical use of any cannabis product had been the use of low-THC CBD oil for severe epilepsy, with a doctor’s recommendation, but patients could not legally get the oil in the state. In 2018, the state legislature passed a “right to try” bill that allowed terminally ill patients to use Medical Marijuana when other options had failed. Prior to Proposition 2, Utah law limited production and processing of cannabis only to state facilities, which could then make it available only to those patients with less than six months to live, or to a research institution.
In 2018, medical and recreational marijuana both remained illegal under federal law. But as a growing number of states began enacting provisions to make marijuana available for medical use (and in some cases, even for recreational use) under certain circumstances, a number of groups including the Utah Patients Coalition, worked to place a measure, called Proposition 2, on the ballot. This provision would expand the availability of Medical Cannabis to patients with certain, specified illnesses and authorize independent facilities licensed and regulated by the state to produce and sell it. Under Prop 2, the use of cannabis for medical purposes would be legally equivalent to the use of prescription opioid and opiate medications.
Proposition 2 faced stiff opposition from numerous groups including legislators, law enforcement organizations and churches, all of which claimed that the new bill would jeopardize the health and safety of the community, increase drug use and open the door to legalizing marijuana for recreational use.
Proposition 2 passed with 52.75 percent of the vote. But almost immediately Governor Gary Herbert called for a special legislative session to amend the measure, and on December 3, 2018, the legislature passed a new version, called House Bill 3001, the Utah Medical Cannabis Law.
Immediately, pro-cannabis groups including The People’s Right filed lawsuits opposing the legislature’s pre-emptive move to replace Prop 2 with House Bill 3001. Months later, in September 2019, the Utah legislature convened another special session and unanimously passed yet another amended bill, Senate Bill 1002.
This bill removed provisions providing for state-run dispensaries, and allowed the state to issue licenses for private dispensaries. SB 1002 also allowed qualified users to obtain electronic Medical Marijuana cards, and mandated that Medical Marijuana must be equivalent to the legal use of any other prescribed medication that is a controlled substance. Under all versions of this legislation, access to Medical Cannabis is limited to certain qualifying conditions—but in the final version of the bill, the list of qualifying conditions was shortened considerably from the one proposed in the original Proposition 2.
Under all versions of the law, patients can get access to cannabis for medical purposes only if a physician certifies that they have a qualifying condition—and certification is at the doctor’s discretion. Now, the list of qualifying conditions under the current Utah Medical Cannabis Act includes:
Also included are terminal illnesses and conditions requiring hospice care, as well as very rare conditions that affect fewer than 200,000 people.
The original Proposition 2 also included some autoimmune disorders such as psoriasis and arthritis, as well as chronic anxiety, glaucoma and sleep disorders. Although the current Utah Medical Cannabis Act no longer covers these conditions, the law allows patients with these or other non-qualifying conditions to petition the state’s Compassionate Use Board for a Medical Cannabis Card.
To get a Medical Marijuana Card in Utah, you’ll need to consult a medical provider who will certify that you have a qualifying condition and enter your information in the state’s Medical Marijuana user database. Then, visit the Utah Health Department website to complete the application and pay the fee. Your card may take up to two weeks to arrive. For more information, schedule an appointment with us today.
In this episode of Utah in the Weeds, we are joined by Bijan Sakaki from Beehive Farmacy. Bijan shares his story and all about what introduced him to cannabis, as well as what we can expect at Beehive Farmacy.
Beehive Farmacy is the newest Utah Medical Marijuana dispensary, which opened October 2020. The address is 1991 South 3600 West, Salt Lake City, 84104, bordering the edge of West Valley on the North side of the I-201. Directions can be found on their Google page.
There will be a 3-lane drive-thru for recurring customers and online ordering. There is plenty of parking because it is a converted old bank building. A 40-foot podium sign with green crosses will soon be a very visible beacon of their location.
Their whole motto is plants over pills, so ‘Farmacy’ indicates that everything’s coming from one of the 8 farms here in Utah. As they’re not allowed to advertise, people mostly find out about Beehive Farmacy through their QMP offices like Utah Therapeutic Health Center, social media, word-of-mouth, and referrals from other pharmacies.
Beehive Farmacy does not cultivate, so they rely on the mutually beneficial relationships they have with cultivators to provide the wide range of products Beehive sells. This benefits their patients by giving them options. At the time of this podcast recording, they’d only been open five days, but the feedback’s been good about the varieties they sell.
On weekdays, they’re open 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Saturday and Sunday, their hours are 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM. Patients have found their online ordering feature very convenient. People can find them on Instagram and Google. Remember that it is Beehive Farmacy, with an F.
First-time patients that need a consultation can schedule one directly either from Instagram, or from their website at https://beehivefarmacy.co with their patient registration link. They will also be opening a second location in December, right across the street from Walmart in Brigham City to cater to the more rural demographic there.
Bijan was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis when he was 12, but he didn’t find cannabis until he was 19 or 20. He comes from a very conservative immigrant family from Iran, so cannabis was taboo and had very negative connotations.
The cannabis tolerance in Utah at that time was also not nearly as positive as it is currently. Bijan remembers this as a very stressful time as he was very ill – it was even thought that he might have had T-cell leukemia. It was his brother who eventually introduced him to Medical Cannabis, which was extremely effective and relieved all his symptoms.
It was very difficult at that time to advocate for Medical Cannabis and source it, as it was still federally illegal. There was very little guidance on what to take, proper doses, and the effects of each; as Bijan discovered when he tried the very potent Rick Simpson oil. Bijan thinks we are extremely fortunate to now have access to products that have been properly tested and researched.
He points out that medical cannabis goes beyond just pharmacies; supply chain is just as important (with cultivators and processors coming into the picture, as not many pharmacies grow their own product).
Bijan believes that in the next 6 months or a year, the process will become much more streamlined. Well-known products like these are currently only being produced in neighboring states, and will soon be produced in Utah as well.
Bijan believes that patients ultimately want products that they know and trust, which he will strive to make available at Beehive Farmacy.
Around 2010, after Denver, Colorado and Portland, Oregon went recreational, Bijan had a vape pen, called a Wellness pen, that he began selling for profit at music festivals.
This made him aware of the marketing possibilities in the cannabis industry, though he was still very inexperienced regarding manufacturing, quality control, and quality assurance. It also taught him a lot about what not to do in the future, which helped him to navigate the cannabis market better as he learned from past mistakes.
After that, Bijan had a dispensary in Stockton, California, during the Prop 215 phase where it was going from the medical market to the adult use market, with many shifts in testing and regulations. You had to be nimble because as the law changed, your whole business model was impacted.
In California, recreational use meant added taxes, which made operating more difficult. Bijan points out that people have to be aware of that in Utah for the future. Moving from medicinal use only to recreational use will mean that patients have to pay more for their Medical Cannabis.
Over the last several years, Bijan exited from California to focus on Utah. He also joined up with two partners, one of whom is Paul Henderson, the current president of High Times. His other partner, Steve Brewster, is a local entrepreneur and tax expert who owns Millcreek Coffee. They all three bring complementary skills to Beehive Farmacy.
280E is the IRS tax code where you can’t write anything off except the cost of goods sold for a ‘federally illegal’ business. It was designed to capture drug traffickers. Lawmakers did not anticipate having some trades legitimized, like Medical Cannabis. In short, 280E prevents cannabis-related businesses from qualifying for tax deductions, and can also affect their access to banking services.
If cannabis were to be decriminalized and 280E goes away, it would have many positive effects for the cannabis industry, but could also complicate matters. One of the unknown factors is: How would cannabis then be treated? Could it then, for instance, be sold at regular pharmacies?
Bijan believes that because many of the issues around Medical Cannabis are complicated, they will not be resolved for several years. It needs to be done right so that the medical use of cannabis is not delegitimized, making the very real benefits of medical marijuana, discredited.
After Bijan got sick at the age 12, with a gastrointestinal auto-immune disease, he discovered paintball after no longer being able to play soccer. He soon started getting better at this new sport, as he learned to overcome his fears. This gave him good life experience as well.
It also introduced him to travel, as he was going to California every weekend. Once he did well regionally, he was fortunate enough to get picked up by teams from Australia and Holland. About five times a year, he went to Amsterdam to play professional paintball matches. Ironically, he was going to the only legal place for using cannabis, but he still didn’t partake himself.
However, in Holland he saw cannabis legitimized, giving him a different perspective not just on cannabis, but also on life. Paintball has a special place in his heart, for ultimately it led him to cannabis and changed his life.
At one point, Bijan was paying $11,000 a month for the medication he was prescribed, and Remicade was not covered by insurance.
One of Bijan’s favorite products is the Omura, a portable handheld device that vapes pre-filled flower sticks. They will work with the Sugar House Selects team in this regard and will have some of their own house brands as well.
He also wants to bring another device to market called the Indose which is a controlled dose distillate cartridge pen that actually measures the amount of THC being inhaled through the vapor so the dosage can be precisely calculated.
Tim agrees this is a big step forward for patients to be able to understand and maintain precise, consistent and safe dosing, especially for new patients.
Bijan is also thrilled to bring in Sugar House Selects’ strains of flower not previously available in Utah. They will also have Cookies corners in all of their stores, with all these products being cultivated, processed, and sold here in Utah. They will be implementing home delivery in the next couple of weeks.
Bijan will also be selling Puffcos, though they have no concentrates yet, as well as Volcanoes.They will also have high-quality DaVinci vaporizers, as well as Studenglass gravity pipes with electric vaporizers attached. They will stock grinders, and batteries for regular cartridges.
Bijan points out how important it is in the Medical Cannabis industry for people to help each other get in contact with the right people, to help and motivate them, and then paying that forward. This has helped establish the legal cannabis industry in Utah, good people helping good people. In fact, there are now about 20,000 legal cannabis users in Utah.
It is really important for any of these patients who are still letter holders to make sure that they get the legally required card, as the letters will expire on January 1st, 2021. To avoid delays in getting their cannabis medication, they need to get onto the electronic verification system [EVS], which streamlines the whole process.
Whereas a letter restricts a patient to one pharmacy, getting a card gives patients access to the many other pharmacies like Deseret in Provo, Curaleaf in Lehi, Dragonfly in Salt Lake, Wholesome in Bountiful, Perfect Earth in Ogden and Logan, and Bijan’s own dispensary Beehive Farmacy in Salt Lake. This also gives patients access to a much greater range of products and services.
Connect with Beehive Farmacy on their website or Instagram. Or reach out to Bijan on LinkedIn.
Tim can be reached here at utahmarijuana.org if anybody needs help converting from a letter to a card or needs help registering on the system. Chris can also be found on the official website for his I Am Salt Lake Podcast.
On this episode of the podcast, we get to chat with Stormy Simon, former President of Overstock.com and former CEO of High Times Magazine. Stormy is also running for election to the Utah House of Representatives to represent District 21.
Stormy Simon is the former president of Overstock.com and the former CEO of High Times. She is currently back in Utah, which has always been her home, to run for the Utah House of Representatives to represent District 21. She checked out different states but wanted to be part of the new emerging cannabis industry in Utah.
She believes in cannabis as a medicine and finds it iniquitous that people do not have access to it when they need it. She wants to be involved in the democratization and development of the massive beneficial potential of the Medical Cannabis industry, starting with its de-stigmatization.
Stormy comes from a marketing and management background. She started at Overstock in late 2001 as a temp, and was closely involved in building up the company from 100 workers to an amazing and very diverse workforce of 2000 employees.
Over the course of 12 years she became the president of Overstock, a position she held for three and a half years. During that time, she explored e-commerce long before it was even really a factor in the marketplace. By the time she left, Overstock’s business had grown from $18 million to almost $2 billion.
She left Overstock to become involved in the Medical Cannabis industry. She went to Denver, CO, which at the time was one of only two adult usage states for Medical Cannabis (the other being Washington). In Denver, she joined two medical dispensaries and a 90,000 square foot cannabis cultivation center. Here she learned a great deal about cannabis and the laws surrounding it.
In Denver, Stormy talked with many people and found out how effective cannabis was in treating a huge variety of diseases including irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn’s disease. It was a truly eye-opening experience for her, and she became convinced about the imperative need for Medical Cannabis to be made freely available as it can be life-changing for patients. Cannabis had, in fact, been used as traditional medicine for thousands of years.
She was amazed at the prejudice, ignorance, and blinkered views and attitudes that still surround cannabis. To a large extent, this can be ascribed to a deliberate campaign years ago by people like Harry Anslinger, Rockefeller, and Hearst to suppress information about cannabis as a medicine. Stormy is enthusiastic about the exciting possibilities of further in-depth and scientific research being done into cannabis and hemp, as well as its correlation to the human endocannabinoid system.
During her time in Denver, Stormy became aware of how unfairly taxation and banking worked in regards to the cannabis industry. Business owners were being forced into cumbersome and unsafe banking practices. She joined a group in San Diego that had a license with blockchain technology. They were successful in having a more equitable banking and payment system established at about 10 dispensaries across a few different states. She also joined the board of CannaKids, a groundbreaking company providing Medical Cannabis in California.
She had been on the board of High Times for several years before joining them as CEO when they really needed her managerial skills. By this time, Stormy had become an extreme advocate for cannabis as medicine, so she viewed joining High Times as an opportunity “to blow the horn and spread a word” about Medical Cannabis.
When she joined them as CEO, she made it clear that it would have to be a short-term appointment as she would most likely be running for office in Utah. She was with them for only about six months, as COVID lengthened the time she spent there.
Stormy has always regarded Utah as her home. As a US citizen, she feels she has the right to make her voice heard. She is not a fan of the Utah state legislature overriding anybody’s vote. They do tend to go back on legislation and change and adjust, as happened with Medicaid expansion, cannabis, and the food tax.
She also feels that there is a great need for more women in the Utah legislature – out of more than 100 representatives, only 26 are women. She feels that greater diversity in the legislature will contribute very much to the collective good.
Stormy is happy that Utah has cannabis as a medicine. She understands that this is a significant step in the right direction towards making Medical Cannabis available to everybody who needs it.
Regarding the huge effort and expense that went into drafting the legislation and having Utah vote on it, simply to have that vote disregarded and a compromise bill enacted, she sees this as deeply reprehensible. Having people vote on and accept one bill, and then enacting a compromise bill, was not only untruthful, but it was also insulting to the people of Utah. Utahns are smart enough to make decisions and smart enough to understand what it means when they vote, “Yes”. Their vote should be respected.
Stormy points out that the vote has not been decided yet, and that she is running as a Democrat in a strongly Republican state. She has been outspoken about her views that she feels strongly about. Mostly she believes in connecting people, and that everyone’s vote is important and meaningful. Everybody should work towards and cooperate for the good of their state.
All her experience tells her that this cooperation towards the collective good is crucial. Setting off on her current journey is the hardest thing she’s ever done. She’s been attacked and criticized and called names because she put a D next to her name. This has surprised her and makes her sad, not only for Utah, but for America as well because she feels so strongly that people need to get along.
Stormy confirms that VoteStormySimon.com is the website for her campaign. It outlines some of her issues like allowing more nuclear waste to be dumped in Utah, water issues, and inland port issues. She stresses that it’s important that citizens get involved. She also has another website, StormySimon.com that includes her podcast, Lunch with Stormy, where she speaks with many diverse people from various fields.
Cannabis is medicine and it’s important that people talk about it because it breaks down the stigma. Studies in Israel have highlighted its many benefits. The more people talk about Medical Cannabis, the less people will be scared of it, and be open to its many life-changing medical benefits.
The people who will be featured or have already been featured on her podcasts include Tommy Chong, Sarah Riggs Amico, Lennox Samuels, Dee Dee Sorvino, and Emily White, amongst others.
She just wants to urge people to be kind. She feels there’s room for all of us here. She believes we need to show more love and understanding and not so much hate just because of who we vote for. Stormy wants people to have more peace, love, and happiness in their lives.
Tim can be reached here at utahmarijuana.org where they just launched a new chat feature and they have people standing by during the day to answers questions.
Chris can be found on his I Am Salt Lake Podcast website where you can hear about local foodie people and the impact of COVID on local eateries.
Been itching for more from Tim & Blake? We hear you loud and clear. Episode 2 of Discover Marijuana with Tim & Blake, brought to you by UtahMarijuana.org and Zion Medicinal, is live on our YouTube channel. We’re giving you three parts to make absolutely sure that we answer all of your questions about CBD and THC. You won’t want to miss out on learning all about cannabis compounds, what gets you high, the entourage effect, and so much more.
To start this episode of Discover Marijuana with Tim & Blake, Tim and Blake go into CBD, THC’s sister cannabinoid in the cannabis plant. CBD is often seen as the less intimidating option when medicating with cannabis, because the CBD risks and CBD side effects are less intense, so to speak, due to the lack of psychoactivity it causes. Tim Pickett, a QMP in Utah and the founder of UtahMarijuana.org, often recommends CBD for beginners in the program as a way to ease in to cannabis use. A product where CBD and THC are working together with other cannabinoids to maintain balance in the endocannabinoid system can be just the ticket for certain conditions.
Blake, Chief Scientific Officer of Zion Medicinal, a Utah cannabinoid company, has dedicated much of his life to marijuana research and discovering how marijuana works, and we’re beyond lucky to have him as a cohost to explain the science. In addition to teaching us all about CBD and CBD dosage, watch as Blake touches on the specific cannabinoids that cause some of the benefits of marijuana, as well as marijuana side effects. And don’t worry if it goes over your head a bit. Tim educates patients daily in his clinic, Utah Therapeutic Health Center, on how to use marijuana and what to expect when marijuana effects kick in, so he’ll explain everything from a patient/provider perspective.
This time, Tim & Blake are touching on the specific cannabinoids in your dosage that cause psychoactivity and make you feel high. Feeling disoriented or high is one of the most well-known marijuana side effects (see if you can catch the moment Blake touches on which cannabinoids do make you feel high). Follow along as Blake Smith, Chief Scientific Officer of Zion Medicinal — a Utah CBD and cannabis company, dives deep into the science of how marijuana works and how CBD and THC work together with loads of other cannabinoids to create an Entourage Effect (the topic of episode 3, stay tuned!). As always, count on Tim in this video to let you know what this means for a cannabis user, whether you use it medicinally or recreationally. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, we’re sure you’ll learn something!
Part 3 of this episode of Discover Marijuana drops very soon! Be sure to subscribe to the Discover Marijuana YouTube channel to catch it as soon as it drops. Because we’re all friends here, we’ll give you a bit of a sneak peek at what you can expect early, though. In part 3, now that you’ve been introduced to a few cannabinoids and know what they do, Tim & Blake are going to get into how they work together in your body’s endocannabinoid system. You can call the effect that you feel when multiple cannabinoids work together the entourage effect. The addition or 
subtraction of cannabis compounds in a product could make all the difference when you’re looking for that “just right” dose and medical benefit. By the time this video ends, you’ll be well-versed in not only CBD and THC, but hopefully, lots of other nifty little cannabinoids as well.
Feeling like a canna-wiz, yet? If not, don’t worry. We’ve got so much more to share with you. Subscribe to the Discover Marijuana YouTube channel to catch the entire series and never miss an episode, and keep an eye out for a free webinar mid-December, where Tim & Blake will answer all your questions in real time. You can also catch up on past episodes and clips here, on YouTube, or on Zion Medicinal’s website. Comment below with a few topics you’d like to know more about, and you may just find your answer in one of our upcoming episodes. Thanks for watching!
The wait is over! You can now catch the first episode of our educational video series, Discover Marijuana with Tim & Blake, brought to you by utahmarijuana.org and Zion Medicinal, on YouTube. We’ve broken it into two parts for your viewing pleasure. Take a look and let us know what you think. Hopefully, you’ll learn a little something while you’re there.
After years of marijuana research, many states in the US have rolled out legalization programs, whether medical or recreational/adult use. In Utah, marijuana was legalized for medicinal use in March 2020, and the beautiful friendship between your hosts, Tim Pickett, a QMP in Utah and founder of Utahmarijuana.org, and Blake Smith, Chief Scientific Officer of Zion Medicinal, was born.
Before you jump right into Medical Marijuana treatment, it’s important to understand not only how marijuana works, but also how to use marijuana effectively as medicine. To help you better understand this, Tim will tackle the medicine side, while Blake will break down the science behind marijuana and how it works to treat a variety of ailments. Without the proper dosage and treatment plan from a provider, a new patient could encounter negative marijuana effects, like feeling disoriented, anxious, or “too high.” Many providers will give their patients a CBD dosage to combat some of the undesirable side effects, as CBD can act as a buffer to some of the psychoactivity that comes with its THC counterpart.
Tim and Blake are back again to help you become canna-experts. In Utah, marijuana legalization is very new, and since March 2020, patients have been left 
wondering what this means for them, how it’ll make them feel, and if it’ll work for their condition. Let us help you answer those questions.
Tim recommends Medical Marijuana to patients every day in his clinic, Utah Therapeutic Health Center, and spends a great deal of time in appointments with his patients making sure that they understand marijuana side effects and Utah laws, and helps them to get an appropriate marijuana dosage for their condition. Many people who come to Tim aren’t even sure how to use marijuana and have no idea where to start. By taking the time to explain marijuana for beginners, Tim ensures that each patient leaves his office confident and finally able to take their health into their own hands.
Blake, on the other hand, as Chief Scientific Officer of Zion Medicinal, will dive deep into the science behind marijuana effects. Blake has dedicated much of his life to researching the cannabis plant — and it shows! In addition to explaining the importance of appropriate THC dosage for patients that are new to cannabis, Blake will explain why many patients also need a certain CBD dosage for the best results.
Feeling like a canna-wiz, yet? If not, don’t worry. We’ve got so much more to share with you. Subscribe to the Discover Marijuana YouTube channel to catch the entire series and never miss an episode, and keep an eye out for a free webinar mid-December, where Tim & Blake will answer all your questions in real-time. Comment below with a few topics you’d like to know more about, and you may just find your answer in one of our upcoming episodes. Thanks for watching!
We’re excited to announce that we’ve partnered with Zion Medicinal to bring you a brand-new educational video series, Discover Marijuana with Tim & Blake. We’ve worked hard to bring facts and information to the people who need it most: Medical Cannabis patients. Consider your hosts, Tim Pickett, a QMP in Utah and founder of Utahmarijuana.org, and Blake Smith, Chief Scientific Officer of Zion Medicinal, your science guides. They’ll bring you the facts, you just sit back, relax, and learn all you’ve ever wanted to know about cannabis. Our first episode drops very soon, but to hold you over until then, here’s a little taste of what’s to come.
In Utah, Medical Marijuana was only just legalized in March 2020, leaving a lot of Utahns confused and wondering what that really means for them as patients. Well, now you can rest easy, Utah. Meet Tim and Blake. In this preview, Tim will help you break down the benefits of marijuana as medical treatment, providing special insight as a medical provider.
Looking for a more in-depth, behind the scenes explanation of WHY this all works? We’ve got you covered there, too. Blake Smith, Chief Scientific Officer of Zion Medicinal, will get into the science of it all. He’ll discuss marijuana chemistry and get into the nitty-gritty of how marijuana works with a patient’s endocannabinoid system to treat and manage a variety of medical conditions.
When it comes to marijuana, for beginners especially, you’ve got to throw out almost everything you’ve ever known about medication. Medical 
Marijuana is a whole new ballgame. With the recent legalization of Medical Marijuana in Utah, many lifelong users were left wondering how to adjust their usage to adhere to the law, and many newbies were just wondering where in the world to start. In this preview, Blake gives you an idea of what cannabis compounds to look for when purchasing your CBD or THC products, and which to completely avoid.
Here’s a cannabis pro tip: Tim will almost always recommend CBD for beginners of Medical Marijuana treatment, to combat the possible “too high” feeling that you may experience as your body adjusts to the THC. You’ll want to store this away for later.
In Utah, marijuana is used by patients medicinally to treat chronic pain ailments more than any other condition — over 65% more Utah patients use marijuana for pain than the next most common qualifying condition in Utah, PTSD.
Tim treats hundreds of chronic pain patients in his clinic, Utah Therapeutic Health Center. You can catch him in this preview covering things from a patient/provider point of view to help you understand the many factors that influence a Medical Cannabis provider’s decision to recommend some patients at one dose, and some at another. From a science standpoint, catch Blake touching specifically on cannabis strains available in Utah, as well as the types of Medical Marijuana to most successfully treat your chronic pain, or whatever your medical condition may be.
Our first full-length episode launches next week — we can barely herb our enthusiasm. Be sure to subscribe to the Discover Marijuana YouTube channel to catch the entire series. You can also find Discover Marijuana with Tim & Blake here, with episodes being posted weekly, or on Zion Medicinal’s website. We hope you enjoy what we’ve created for you. Thanks for watching!
Shelly is the social media manager for the group Utah Patients for Cannabis and Natural Choices. The group was founded on Facebook in 2016, she affirms that their purpose is to lift the stigma on cannabis and improve people’s knowledge about the many incredible benefits of the drug. In fact, they were the first group to represent Medical Cannabis in a Utah Parade, which occured in Magna, Utah.
She is also a Medical Cannabis patient and was the first patient to buy a cannabis product in Ogden when she bought some Sundae Driver flower.
She dabbled a bit with recreational cannabis in her youth, but then, in the late ‘90s developed searing pain in her sinuses and a double earache that didn’t respond to antibiotics. It turned out to be trigeminal neuralgia.
She was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia, degenerative disc disease, and facet disease, and had a 5-level fusion done in her neck from C3 to T1. Being treated with conventional medicines was complicated by the fact that she had bad reactions to them.
The biggest turning point for her came when an aunt gave her some cannabis oil that not only alleviated her severe pain, and, in fact, set her on the road to learning everything she could find out about cannabis.
And that’s what she also envisages with the Utah Patients for Cannabis and Natural Choices group. It is to help others understand and learn about cannabis. She confirms that trigeminal neuralgia, also referred to as ‘the suicide disease’, causes extreme and debilitating levels of pain.
She applies cannabis bombs at the base of her skull, on her neck and at her temples and it helps tremendously because it works through a numbing sensation.
She has actually gotten into learning how to produce her own Medical Cannabis products because it is prohibitively expensive to buy the preprocessed medications.
She has learnt how to infuse oil which is extremely multipurpose. It can be used as a sublingual and capsules. You can cook with it, put it on your skin, and mixed with a little bit of coconut oil, it makes a nice cream.
She has a Levo II that she uses for processing her own product which makes it much more affordable. It also comes with a potency calculator so you can calculate the strength of your product. She starts with a sublingual in the morning to get her out of bed in the morning because she wakes up so sore. She will then supplement through the day as needed, either with her dry herb vaporizer or capsules. She’s even used the base oil she produces as bath oil to good effect.
Shelly confirms that by microdosing like this and with the acquired tolerance cannabis patients build up, they live a normal life. Their pain levels are controlled without them getting ‘high’. So they get the therapeutic benefits of cannabis, without having the side-effects.
She did hide it when she was raising kids, but now she has just come right out of the proverbial closet. Her family supports her, her friends support her, and they think it’s wonderful that she has the purpose of helping people through the Utah Patients for Cannabis and Natural Choices group. She enjoys talking to people and helping them out.
Shelly thinks the computer system needs a lot of help because patients have a hard time navigating it. She would also like to see patient caps removed as there’s no reason for them.
She also really thinks that education of law enforcement officers is urgently needed. She applauds the officers who have actually come into the pharmacy and asked for a copy of the law so that they could inform themselves.
Shelley points out that some legal cannabis patients are still being cited illegally and having their medicine removed by poorly informed officers. She advises people to always keep a physical copy of their card on them to prove that they are a Medical Cannabis patient, even though they may have a virtual one on their phone.
They should also put a lock on the bag or case that they carry their cannabis product in to comply with the law that states that cannabis should be in a tamper-proof, opaque container. They should also not carry large quantities. Having some proof of the original packaging with the pharmacist’s receipt would also be a good idea.
Shelly emphasizes that patients should make sure that they know what the law says, what their rights are, and ensure that they are within the strictures of the law.
Shelly points out that unfortunately not all officers are up to date regarding the law, and though illegal citations will usually be dropped, it can result in not just inconvenience, but also costs for the people involved. Ridiculous things, like somebody’s $100 bottle of cream being confiscated, unfortunately still happen.
Shelly points out that the group regards no question as stupid; they are all still learning constantly. It is all about supporting each other. Before COVID, they would have get-togethers. They also work with lawmakers to promote changes to the law.
They are mainly an education group – their main focus is to promote knowledge about cannabis and combat the stigma attached to it.
She first got fibromyalgia. Then one day she woke up and her left arm was numb. An MRI revealed that she had several bulging discs and many bone spurs probably caused by age and several accidents she had had in her life. They went in and cleaned up all the bone spurs.
However, that proved inadequate – so they had to do a second surgery with a fusion from C3 to T1. Fortunately, she now has better movement than she had before. The last surgery was done just a year before.
Her surgeon at the time was not comfortable with her using cannabis for pain control. But she was not getting the relief she needed from traditional medication, so she actually left the hospital after only one day because she knew she could take care of the pain better at home. She was only on pain pills for about two days.
She believes that cannabis and pain medication can work together, but she doesn’t like pain pills. They make her feel sick and tired, and all she wants to do is sleep. Cannabis, on the other hand, gives her energy.
She confirms that it’s been a long ride, but she’s glad it went the way it did, because if she hadn’t have found cannabis, she could have gone down some pretty bad roads.
She’s grateful to her aunt for giving her more knowledge about it. She’s thankful for the Utah Patients for Cannabis and Natural Choices group for giving her a purpose and she’s just happy to be able to move and not be in so much pain.
Shelly never expected Utah to legalize Medical Cannabis. She really thought she would need to move to a legal state once her husband had retired. She points out that it was pretty scary to live without legal sanction.
Shelly points out that there are only two months left to turn a Medical Cannabis letter into a card. On January 1st, it’s no longer going to be legal to possess cannabis with only your letter. But up until January 1st, it’s a blanket protection that anybody can use.
How the protection works is that they wrote in the law that you could possess cannabis as long as it was in the formats and the amounts allotted up until January 1, 2021. After January 1st, you have to have a Medical Cannabis Card, or it will be illegal.
Shelly takes message requests all the time online, and she and the group are on Facebook and Twitter. The social media group focuses on dispelling the stigmas around Medical Cannabis, educating to promote responsible and safe cannabis legislation. Education on the subject is important and she would be delighted for you to come join them.
Tim can be reached here at utahmarijuana.org where they just launched a new chat feature, and they have people standing by during the day to answers questions.
Chris can be found on his I am Salt Lake podcast website where you can hear about local foodie people and the impact of COVID on local eateries.
