Utah’s First Medical marijuana Pharmacy Opens in Salt Lake City
15 months after Utah voters passed an initiative to legalize medical marijuana, the state’s first medical marijuana pharmacy opened Monday.
Dragonfly Wellness (711 State St., Salt Lake City) opened its doors early Monday morning, marking the first time a legal distributor of medical marijuana has opened in Utah since the beginning of prohibition decades ago.
“For far too long we’ve been told what we should do and what we shouldn’t do,” Narith Panh, Dragonfly’s chief strategy officer, told reporters at a morning news conference. “And now, finally, we have that option to be able to take back control of our own health, to take back control of our lifestyle, to take back control of how we manage our medical conditions.”
Dragonfly is one of 14 marijuana pharmacies expected to ope this year, says the head of the Center for Medical Cannabis Richard Oborn.
The state began accepting applications for personal medical marijuana cards on Friday.
To become a medical cannabis patient an individual must suffeer from a specific medical condition, such as cancer, HIV, epilepsy, autism or multiple sclerosis, and receive approval from a state-appointed board of physicians.
So far over 80 medical providers have registered with the state to recommend medical marijuana, says Oborn.
Dragonfly Wellness will be open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Connected to Dragonfly Wellness is a community center where Dragonfly will host events for health professionals and others who want to learn more about medical marijuana.
As noted by the Tribune, after the passage of Proposition 2 in late 2018, state legislators convened in a special session to replace the initiative with a different proposal which was much more restrictive.
“Hopefully, this is a wonderful start to a.. successful program here in Utah,” said Rigby.