SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Latest on medical marijuana in Utah (all times local):
3:50 p.m.
Medical-marijuana supporters are filing notice they intend to sue opponents asking people to remove their signatures in a last-minute push to keep the issue off the ballot.
The Utah Patients Coalition said Friday that canvassers are misleading people into taking their names off the petition. Opponents with Drug Safe Utah deny using any fraudulent claims to make their case.
The threat comes as the battle over the issue heats up in conservative Utah. Earlier this week, opponents filed a complaint saying a medical-marijuana advocate tried to illegal buy voters’ signature-removal forms. The Patients Coalition says he was trying to legally buy opponents’ data to undo the fraud they’d spread.
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3:20 p.m.
The Mormon church is doubling down its opposition to Utah’s medical marijuana ballot initiative.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a statement and a seven-page legal memorandum Friday outlining the “serious adverse consequences” that could follow if the measure were approved.
The memorandum was compiled by Salt Lake City law firm Kirton McConkie. It warns that the initiative would make it hard for police to distinguish between legal and illegal drug possession and could allow a large number of Utah residents - including children and people with drug convictions- to obtain medical cannabis cards.
Roughly two-thirds of Utah residents belong to the church.
Supporters of the initiative say it’s narrowly tailored and that the drug will help people living with chronic conditions. The proposal would not allow for smoking of marijuana.
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