Salt Lake City – Hours after his wife pleaded guilty to misdemeanor pot-possession charges connected with two pounds of the drug found at their house, Utah’s Democratic candidate for governor pushed Tuesday for the legalization of medical marijuana.
Mike Weinholtz said during an emotional news conference that current laws leave doctors with little choice but to prescribe powerful painkillers with a risk of addiction that have made opioid drugs an epidemic in Utah and elsewhere. Pot reduced Donna Weinholtz’s pain so she could do things like ride bikes with her son and plant tulip bulbs, the couple said.
"What would you do if the person you love most in the world was faced with that decision?" he said. "Would you report them to the police? Would you insist they stop and live with pain too severe to sleep at night?"
Donna Weinholtz, 61, said marijuana was the best way for her to treat arthritis and degenerative spinal conditions that left her unable to get out of bed, sometimes for weeks.
"I, like many Utahns, made a deliberate and conscious decision to use cannabis knowing full well that it is against the law," she said. "I have faith the law will change."
Conservative Utah has a very limited medical cannabis law allowing those with severe epilepsy to use cannabis extract oil that doesn’t contain psychoactive properties.
Two proposals to expand access to medical pot died in the state legislature this year. A Utah legislative committee is expected to discuss the issue tomorrow.
Mike Weinholtz first revealed the investigation into his wife during his party’s convention in April, shortly after the probe began when postal workers found a small amount of pot she tried to mail to a home the couple owns in California.
The plea deal Donna Weinholtz struck with prosecutors Tuesday calls for a fine and probation rather than jail time.
She pleaded guilty to two counts, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. She agreed to serve one year of probation and pay a $3,800 fine. The deal, known as a plea in abeyance, also calls for her record to be cleared if she stays out of trouble for the next year.
Her lawyer, Walter Bugden, said it’s a standard agreement for a first-time offender.
Tooele County Chief Deputy Attorney Gary Searle has said it appears she had the drug for personal use, and there’s no evidence her husband was aware of it. His office got the case after federal prosecutors declined to file charges and the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office bowed out for political reasons.
Donna Weinholtz had faced up to six months in jail if convicted.
She was also one of 13 people arrested in 2014 as part of a protest over the Republican-dominated Legislature’s refusal to hold a hearing on an anti-discrimination law that included sexual and gender orientation protections. It passed the following year.
In that case, she got probation and paid a $100 fine after she and other protesters blocked the doors to a committee meeting room.
Mike Weinholtz is a wealthy businessman facing an uphill battle this year to try to unseat Republican Gov. Gary Herbert in an overwhelmingly GOP state.
Herbert campaign manager Marty Carpenter declined to comment Tuesday.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: Utah Governor Candidate Mike Weinholtz Wants Drug Reform After Wife’s Marijuana Arrest
Author: Staff
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