Superseded 7/1/2023

(1)  A law enforcement officer, as that term is defined in Section 53-13-103, except for an officially designated drug enforcement task force regarding conduct that is not in accordance with 2, may not expend any state or local resources, including the officer’s time, to:

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Terms Used In Utah Code 58-37-3.8

  • Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
  • Drug: means :
(A) a substance recognized in the official United States Pharmacopoeia, Official Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States, or Official National Formulary, or any supplement to any of them, intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in humans or animals;
(B) a substance that is required by any applicable federal or state law or rule to be dispensed by prescription only or is restricted to administration by practitioners only;
(C) a substance other than food intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or other animals; and
(D) substances intended for use as a component of any substance specified in Subsections (1)(r)(i)(A), (B), and (C). See Utah Code 58-37-2
  • Person: means any corporation, association, partnership, trust, other institution or entity or one or more individuals. See Utah Code 58-37-2
  • Production: means the manufacture, planting, cultivation, growing, or harvesting of a controlled substance. See Utah Code 58-37-2
  • State: means the state of Utah. See Utah Code 58-37-2
  • use: means the joint or individual ownership, control, occupancy, holding, retaining, belonging, maintaining, or the application, inhalation, swallowing, injection, or consumption, as distinguished from distribution, of controlled substances and includes individual, joint, or group possession or use of controlled substances. See Utah Code 58-37-2
  • (a)  effect any arrest or seizure of cannabis, as that term is defined in Section 26B-4-201, or conduct any investigation, on the sole basis of activity the officer believes to constitute a violation of federal law if the officer has reason to believe that the activity is in compliance with the state medical cannabis laws;

    (b)  enforce a law that restricts an individual’s right to acquire, own, or possess a firearm based solely on the individual’s possession or use of cannabis in accordance with state medical cannabis laws; or

    (c)  provide any information or logistical support related to an activity described in Subsection (1)(a) to any federal law enforcement authority or prosecuting entity.

    (2)  An agency or political subdivision of the state may not take an adverse action against a person for providing a professional service to a medical cannabis pharmacy, as that term is defined in Section 26B-4-201, the state central patient portal, as that term is defined in Section 26B-4-201, or a cannabis production establishment, as that term is defined in Section 4-41a-102, on the sole basis that the service is a violation of federal law.

    Amended by Chapter 329, 2023 General Session