WRITER MINDY MADEO
Pharmacists are Fighting for Your Right to Safe and Legal Access
THE GREEN
The pharmacist role in the Utah cannabis pharmacy
responsibility of ensuring compliance with Utah cannabis law.
In Utah, a pharmacist is required to be in the cannabis pharmacies during business hours. Each patient new to the medical cannabis program is required to have a one time pharmacist consultation. Pharmacists educate and answer questions as a free service to patients. All of the pharmacists interviewed can tell stories that would bring a tear to a person’s eye because many people with debilitating conditions are finding success through cannabis as a medicine.
New cannabis laws and rules
The cannabis industry agrees that pharmacist consultations have been a great benefit to many. We spend years learning about dosing, drug delivery and dosage forms. Pharmacists, including myself, are now transitioning this knowledge to help patients discover how to best use cannabis, which is a natural and welcomed transition to many pharmacists. We are trained to manage complicated medication profiles by screening for drug interactions, duplication of therapy, and improper dosing. We empower patients to learn how to select products, safely medicate with cannabis, limit side effects, and manage tolerance. Pharmacists also have the legal
A binding recommendation is essentially an order or a prescription. So why do our laws use the word recommendation instead of prescription? Because it is not federally legal for providers to prescribe or order cannabis. The First Amendment right to free speech does allow providers to suggest or recommend cannabis and this is the foundation for all state medical cannabis programs.
56 SALT BAKED CITY MAGAZINE
I SPRING 2021
According to new rules passed in Senate Bill 192, pharmacists will now review each medical cannabis transaction before dispensing in accordance with pharmacy practice standards. The Utah Health Department has also interpreted recommendations from providers to be binding, meaning the pharmacy and patient are both forced to follow these recommendations exactly.
Senator Evan Vickers, the sponsor of Senate Bill 192, agrees. “We do not want our program to follow a prescription model. I recognize that medical cannabis is a recommendation model
