Despite The National Popularity Of Legalizing Marijuana

«They did everything that they could to eliminate this until individuals had spoken,» a former state lawmaker said of the church.

SALT LAKE CITY — On a Thursday in October 2018, a handful of Utah’s leading lawmakers, agents from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and medical cannabis supporters submitted into the Gold Room, an ornate space in the state Capitol.

They were signed up with by the Utah Medical Association and law enforcement groups to reveal a deal to legalize medical cannabis throughout the state.

Everyone was there in large part since the church had chosen they would be.

«You could simply practically hear the teeth grinding of the law enforcement — and a few of the other people that were sitting there — needing to play great and say ‘Oh yeah … this is all kumbaya.’ Because, it wasn’t,» said previous Republican Utah state Sen. Mark Madsen, who worked to pass medical cannabis legislation. «The church made that occur.»

Despite the nationwide popularity of legislating cannabis, 14 states — mostly in the Deep South and the Great Plains — have not welcomed it for medical use. Triangulating around growing assistance and pushed along by the personal touch of its members, the Mormon church helped greenlight a medical cannabis program market advocates may use to be successful in deeply conservatives locations like Idaho or Kansas.