Utah lawmakers have done a lot to improve the state’s medical cannabis program since it first launched in 2020. However, if medical cannabis proponents are to be believed, a 2025 bill passed by the legislature sets the program back a bit. The legislation bans pop-up medical cannabis card clinics frequently found operating in dispensary parking lots.
Until recently, medical cannabis pharmacies could partner with medical providers to offer temporary walk-up clinics through which prospective patients could apply for their cards. In exchange for easy access to patients, the medical providers would reduce their fees significantly.
Unfortunately for the medical providers, state lawmakers put an end to the practice with legislation signed into law by the governor. Utah medical providers can no longer write official recommendations for medical cannabis within five hundred feet of a licensed dispensary, unless they are operating within the confines of their own established businesses.
Dispensaries Won’t Be Harmed
According to Beehive Farmacy’s operators, medical cannabis dispensaries will not be hurt by the new law. Beehive operates locations in Brigham City and Salt Lake City. They will continue to serve their customers as they always have, irrespective of how patients obtain cards.
In all likelihood, medical providers won’t be harmed by it either. They will still be able to see patients in their offices. They will still be able to charge the same fees. If anyone is harmed by the legislation – and that is questionable – it will be patience themselves.
Patients hoping to get discounted fees by visiting pop-up clinics will now have to pay full price at established clinics. But even that reality is not all bad. The state maintains a comprehensive database of all QMPs and their fees for medical cannabis services. Patients can even visit their own primary care physicians as well, provided those physicians agree to act as limited medical providers (LMPs) under the law.
A More Fundamental Question
Rather than asking who might be harmed by the new legislation, a more fundamental question deserves to be asked: should pop-up clinics ever have been allowed in the first place? One can easily make the case that they should not have been.
When Utah lawmakers first began crafting the state’s medical cannabis program, they purposely created the QMP (qualified medical provider) system to prevent card mills from popping up across the state. The system worked very well. It continues to work well today.
However, it soon became apparent that there were not enough doctors willing to become QMPs. In order to keep up with demand, state lawmakers created the LMPs system a couple of years later. Combining the two seems to have solved the demand problem. So then why pop-up clinics in pharmacy parking lots?
One possibility is the desire to conduct ‘card drives’ that would result in far more patients obtaining cards than would otherwise have occurred organically. The business benefits of offering card drives are pretty apparent: more patients with valid cards means more business for both dispensaries and medical providers.
It Goes Back to the Prescription Concept
For those opposed to liberal cannabis laws, it all goes back to the prescription concept. Is medical cannabis the same as any other prescription drug? And if so, it needs to be treated as such. States do not allow pop-up clinics through which doctors dispense opioid prescriptions. Why should medical cannabis be any different?
Regardless of which side of the debate you come down on, pop-up medical cannabis card clinics are no longer allowed in Utah. Current recommendations can only be made by QMPs and LMPs within the confines of their already existing businesses.
