Utah rethinks medical pot distribution plan amid pressure

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah is considering new ways to distribute medical marijuana amid growing scrutiny from county attorneys who argue a planned state-run dispensary system would put public employees at risk of being prosecuted under federal drug laws.

On Tuesday, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill and Davis County District Attorney Troy Rawlings said current plans to use local health departments throughout the state as pickup points for medical marijuana would make the employees de-facto drug dealers.

Marijuana is still banned at the federal level, though a congressional amendment blocks the Justice Department from interfering with medical marijuana programs in states that have them.

But some district attorneys said distribution is still risky. "There's no exemption for a state employee to distribute marijuana," Rawlings said.

More than 30 other states allow medical marijuana in some form. But none have state-run dispensaries because they fear the potential legal fallout, said Chris Lindsey, senior legislative counsel with the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington-based pro-legalization advocacy group. Utah's proposal is unique and, if successful, could set a precedent for other states, he said.

Advocates who pushed for last year's voter-approved law legalizing medical marijuana in Utah said they are pleased the state may go back to the plan outlined in the ballot initiative for a network of private dispensaries.

That was scrapped when Utah lawmakers made sweeping changes to the ballot measure, and built in the distribution system that uses local health departments.

The current plan allows for seven private "cannabis pharmacies," with a state-run "central fill pharmacy" distributing the remainder of medical marijuana orders through each of the state's...