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Industry-expert legal planning, regulatory support, corporate guidance, and compliance strategies.
Contact UsHarris Sliwoski has been a leader in cannabis law and policy since 2010 when we began our cannabis advisory practice in Seattle, Washington. For more than a decade, we have been helping businesses across the country successfully navigate state and federal cannabis regulations. We bring that experience and expertise to our practice in Salt Lake City, where we focus on Utah’s medical cannabis and THC programs and on the prospects for legalization or reduced penalties for non-medical cannabis use.
In Utah, the only legal way to use or possess cannabis is through the state’s medical cannabis program. Otherwise, possession of any amount is punishable by a fine or jail time. Possession of up to a pound of cannabis or any amount of cannabis paraphernalia is a misdemeanor. Possession of more than a pound, or the sale of any amount outside of the medical cannabis program, is a felony that can carry more severe penalties. The penalties increase for larger amounts, sales to minors and sales within 1,000 feet of a school.
The Utah Medical Cannabis Act, passed in 2018, legalized the use of cannabis to treat specific ailments, including cancer, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis. To purchase medical cannabis, a Utah resident needs a medical cannabis card issued by the state’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). To obtain a card, residents must meet several requirements, including having a qualifying medical condition and getting a recommendation from a registered medical provider.
Medical cannabis can take various forms, from tablets to oils to lozenges. With any form of it, patients may only possess a 30-day supply. Each dose may only contain up to 20 grams of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound in cannabis.
Cannabis can only be purchased in Utah at medical cannabis pharmacies licensed by the DHHS. Home cultivation, even for medical purposes, remains illegal. Medical cannabis pharmacies are subject to regulations including the following:
Because it does not contain significant amounts of psychoactive THC, cannabidiol (CBD) is subject to less stringent restrictions than cannabis. Products like CBD oil and hemp abstract are legal if their THC content is 0.3% or less, but they must still be registered with the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food.
Because of the potentially significant legal consequences of using or possessing THC, it is vital to ensure a CBD product contains only the legally allowed amount of THC. It is also important to know if a CBD product is derived from the higher-THC cannabis plant or the lower-THC hemp plant.
Beyond advising individual businesses, our cannabis attorneys are committed to fortifying, defending, and building credibility for the industry as a whole. Harris Sliwoski’s cannabis business lawyers are more than legal strategists—they are thought leaders: forward-thinking bloggers, educators, writers, and speakers.
They regularly write articles for legal journals and frequently post to our acclaimed and widely followed Canna Law Blog. We speak to business and trade groups, academic institutions, and government bodies on a variety of cannabis legal issues, and our cannabis lawyers are frequently quoted by global, national, and local media outlets. We also have compiled (and are forever adding to) a Cannabis Glossary to help with industry terminology.
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