Medical marijuana is legal in 30 U.S. states, as well as Washington, D.C., and this November, Utah voters will have the chance to decide whether or not we become number 31.

Utahns have many tough issues to vote on this coming up ballot, and the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes is one of the most controversial  topics.

The issue was first presented to the Utah Senate in 2015, 100 years after Utah’s complete ban on cannabis, however, it was narrowly voted against 15-14. In 2016, three different bills were proposed, but none of them were passed.

In February of this year, a bill was passed in the Utah House of Representatives, which made medical marijuana legal for use on terminally ill patients, but only in tablet or pill form.

The new bill, Proposition 2, was started with a petition created by Utah Patients Coalition, which has received over 153,000 signatures, about 40,000 more than the amount necessary to appear on the November ballot.

The passing of this bill would help patients with diseases such as cancer, ALS, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s, and Crohn’s disease by reducing pain and negative symptoms, as well as improving general quality of life.

Marijuana would also produce similar results to other pain medications, but without negative side effects such as anxiety and high addiction rates, and it would also generally be more effective.

With a recommendation from a doctor, patients could go to the Utah Department of Health and receive a medical card. They would then go to one of the state-run, but privately owned, dispensaries to receive the drug. Starting in January of 2021, this bill would allow patients with a prescription for the drug who are more than 100 miles away from a dispensary to grow a maximum of 6 marijuana plants in their own home.

This proposition would not allow medical card holders to smoke the marijuana, which many people believe is dangerous to the lungs, with similar effects to smoking tobacco.

Despite these benefits, the LDS Church and Governor Gary Herbert have stated their opposition to this proposition, however, Governor Herbert has explained his desire for patients in need to have greater access to medical marijuana, but fears that the planned bill would be too loose, and would lead the road to expansion to recreational usage of the drug. The Church has also stated that with the right restrictions, they would support the legalization of cannabis for medicinal reasons. Another group opposed to this issue is Drug Safe Utah, who list many other organizations on their side of the issue, located on their website.

Opponents to the bill cite long-term memory and concentration lapses as the main reasons to not vote for this proposition, as well as fears of addiction and pushes towards recreational usage, especially focused on young adults.

A Salt Lake Tribune-Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found that 66% of eligible voters in Utah support medical marijuana, this is significantly lower than the national approval, which is upwards of 80%.

Based on these numbers, it is likely that Proposition 2 will pass, however, they are subject to change, as a survey from the same source reported that 76% of Utah voters supported medical marijuana in January of this year.