SHURTLEFF OPEN TO CONSIDERING LEGALIZING MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

SALT LAKE CITY - Having endured chemotherapy for cancer, Utah Attorney
General Mark Shurtleff says he isn't opposed to exploring the
legalization of medicinal marijuana.

"I'm open to it now because I've experienced it, and I've seen others
suffer," he said Thursday on KSL Newsradio's "Doug Wright Show."

Shurtleff said he would consider a law legalizing medicinal marijuana
provided it came with proper restrictions like other controlled
substances.

"Some states haven't had controls, so it becomes kind of a
free-for-all," he said. "If you had controls, I don't know why you
couldn't do that."

But Utah lawmakers who work on health-related issues say there is no
appetite for legalizing medicinal marijuana or even talking about it.

"I would fight it to the death, said Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North
Ogden, who heads the Health and Human Services Interim Committee. "I
think that opens the door to all kinds of misuse and abuse. I'm 110
percent against it."

Shurtleff did not use the drug while undergoing treatment for Stage 3
colon cancer since January. But after becoming severely ill several
times, he said he understands why people would turn to marijuana for
relief.

When he couldn't keep food down and his anti-nausea pills weren't
working, Shurtleff said he gained sympathy for those who seek to ease
their pain.

"If you can't keep those down, what do you do? You just suffer," he
said.

Shurtleff declared this week that he is cancer-free after undergoing
three types of chemotherapy, including one series that caused an
adverse reaction in his heart that he says nearly killed him.

Though he didn't use marijuana during his illness, he said he did
receive opiates at one point to alleviate the nausea.

"During the worst part of my hospitalization when nothing was staying
inside me, they gave me opiates. I was drinking liquid opium every
three hours," he said.

Legalizing medicinal marijuana would require action by the Utah
Legislature and a legislator willing to carry a bill. Shurtleff didn't
rule out approaching a lawmaker with a proposal of his own after
further study.

"I think that's a tough sell," said Sen. Dan Liljenquist, R-Bountiful,
adding legalization would send "absolutely the wrong message" to young
people.

Christensen said the notion might be "kicked around in a lot of
places. Utah is not one of those places."