Though not all products are expected to be in patients’ hands, Utah’s medical cannabis program will roll out by the state’s March deadline, officials say.

“So it’s a rush and a spring, but we’ve known that since day one. We just haven’t had a lot of time, so we’re blocking and tackling along the way and making sure we have some product available for March 1,” said Andrew Rigby, the state’s cannabis program manager with the Utah Department of Agriculture.

Utah health officials plan to award pharmacy licenses to 10 companies to dispense medical marijuana at 14 sites across the state, a major development in the program’s approaching launch.

The chosen sites announced Friday by the Department of Health are largely in metro Salt Lake City or elsewhere in northern Utah but also include two in southern Utah and one in rural eastern Utah.

Along with multiple sites in Salt Lake City, other northern Utah sites include West Bountiful, Ogden, Logan, Park City, Provo, Linden, Springville and a location that would be Box Elder County, Morgan County or Rich County.

Jeffrey Manzanares started vaping nicotine two years ago because he thought it would be a safe way to quit smoking. Instead, it almost killed him.

The 33-year-old construction worker spent 17 days in a Utah hospital last month when he came down with a lung illness after vaping nicotine and THC, the high-inducing ingredient in marijuana. He lost 50 pounds.

He’s back at work now and on the mend, but he swears he’ll never touch a vaping pipe again. He offers a warning for anyone he sees vaping: “Hey, that almost killed me.”

As Utah prepares to launch its medical marijuana program next year, residents who want to use the drug in the meantime are encountering skeptical doctors and the quandary of where to get the plant.

A law passed by the Utah Legislature in December 2018 allows residents to use medical marijuana before patient cards are officially doled out, which is expected to happen in March 2020 at the earliest, but they must obtain a signed letter of recommendation from a doctor, physician’s assistant or other medical provider.

Several Utah vape shops sued the state’s Department of Health over its emergency rule restricting the sale of flavored e-cigarettes amid a national outbreak of lung damage linked to vaping.

In the lawsuit filed Monday, retailers claimed there is no evidence to suggest flavored e-cigarettes are causing lung damage and that the new rule could hurt business.

Recent cases of lung damage, they argued, are instead caused by “these persons’ use of black-market THC cartridges,” according to the lawsuit.

A local television news station in Utah reported on Tuesday that a bulletin has been issued to law enforcement agencies warning officers of the dangers of fentanyl “disguised to look like marijuana.” Citing an “internal law enforcement bulletin” of unidentified origin, KUTV in Salt Lake City reported in an online written story that instances of fentanyl disguised to resemble cannabis has become a “trend” and that law enforcement agencies “across the country” were being warned of the potential dangers.

Utah is the latest state whose school districts are taking a zero tolerance stance on vaping at school.

Following a string vaping incidents, illnesses and even deaths in teens, vaping has been at the center of controversy for months, with many health organizations urging students to no longer use vaping products.

To enforce the ban, school districts have installed specialized detectors in school bathrooms. The detectors are able to sense cigarette smoke and vapor from vapes. They are reportedly able to detect excess noise that might indicate fighting or bullying. When detection is made, a notification is sent to school administrators who can step in immediately.

A new set of medical cannabis laws were just signed into law in Utah. The development is the latest in what has become a protracted battle over medical marijuana in the state.

Most notably, the new medical marijuana laws do away with a prior plan to institute a centralized, state-run distribution system that many advocates said would become hugely problematic. Now, Utah will implement a much broader framework for distributing medical cannabis to patients.

Governor Signs New Laws

The new laws will immediately go into effect, as Governor Gary Herbert has officially signed off on them. The set of marijuana-related amendments signed by the governor are the outcome of a special legislative session held last week.

State lawmakers are scheduled to convene a special session on Monday, September 16, to amend the state’s nascent medical cannabis access law.

Specifically, lawmakers are seeking to revise the law so that public health departments are no longer responsible for the overseeing of the distribution of medical cannabis products. Instead, legislators are proposing that regulators license up to 12 privately-owned dispensaries throughout the state.

CBD edibles and vapes spiked with a variety of synthetic marijuana compounds have found their way to consumers in Louisiana, Maryland and nearly a dozen other states, according to a nationwide Associated Press investigation into unregulated cannabidiol products. Synthetic marijuana, often marketed as K2 or Spice, has been linked to mass hospitalizations and other health emergencies across the U.S. and Europe.