There are two reasons why Russ Belville thinks Idaho has a shot at legalizing medical marijuana in 2020: Utah and Oklahoma.

In 2018, both conservative strongholds approved medical marijuana laws.

"We are very confident that if it makes it on the ballot, it passes," says Belville, spokesman for the Idaho Cannabis Coalition. "The difficulty is in getting it on the ballot. Idaho has some of the most arduous signature requirements. But once we get it on the ballot, we're confident it will pass."

The coalition filed a petition with the Idaho Secretary of State's Office to include a medical marijuana initiative on the 2020 ballot and expects to start collecting signatures before the end of the week, Belville says.

A new study by the Oxford Treatment Center has unearthed the average cost of marijuana by state and both Utah and its adjacent states are on the lower side of the price tag.

Though marijuana is still recreationally illegal at the federal level and within the state of Utah, the center uses information from a national price directory to conduct its study.

Neighboring state Nevada is the cheapest place in the United States to purchase high quality marijuana at $270 per ounce, according to the study.

Utah comes in ninth at $281 per ounce well below the national average of $326. 

The most expensive place in the country for high quality marijuana is in Washington D.C. at a whopping $597 per ounce.

Tensions continue to escalate in an ongoing lawsuit between medical marijuana advocates and the state of Utah. Most recently, the lawyer in charge of a key lawsuit circulated a detailed letter. In it, he described Utah’s current medical marijuana bill as unconstitutional and illegal. Ultimately, the lawsuit calls for a return to the state’s previous medical marijuana program, which was approved by voters last November but overwritten by lawmakers in December.

Utah’s largest healthcare provider has authorized its doctors to recommend the use of medical marijuana for their patients, according to media reports. Intermountain Healthcare announced on Thursday that it has established a system to issue recommendation letters to patients with qualifying health conditions who could benefit from cannabis.

Mark Briesacher, the Intermountain chief physician executive, said that the company’s healthcare providers have prepared to discuss medical marijuana with patients who ask for a recommendation.

The state of Utah is now advertising for someone to oversee all things marijuana.

The Mormon Church is currently opposing a ballot initiative in Utah that would legalize medical marijuana due to moral reasons. But it turns out they may have a financial reason for preventing the expansion of medicinal cannabis as well, writes Joseph Misulonas. 

A pair of advocacy groups in Utah sued Thursday to block a compromise agreement legalizing medical marijuana, accusing the LDS Church of unconstitutional domination and interference involving a process that lead to the gutting of a measure approved by voters.

The lawsuit alleges the revised initiative creates overwhelming obstacles for suffering patients who want to obtain the drug. It also asks a judge to set aside the revision passed by lawmakers and keep the original version that won with 53 percent of the vote in November.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints didn’t immediately have comment.

Utah now has a brand spanking new medical marijuana program, but it has nothing to do with the will of the people. Although the voters overwhelmingly approved a proposal in the midterm election designed to legalize medical marijuana statewide, the state legislature, in cahoots with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints and Governor Gary Herbert, passed an updated version of the law in a special session this week that is being called a “compromise” to the original measure.​

But the voters saw this coming.