With a wide range of qualifying conditions, a one-size-fits-all approach to medical cannabis dosing doesn’t work—some patients require higher doses and stronger concentrations of THC to manage their symptoms. In Utah, state law caps possession at 113 grams of unprocessed cannabis flower and 20 grams of total THC for all other medicinal forms, leaving patients and providers navigating rigid limits that may not meet individual needs.
The issue is that Utah combines edibles, tinctures, concentrates, and other non-flower forms of cannabis into a single category, limiting patients to 20 grams of total THC per month. Since 1,000 mg of THC in edible form counts as 1 gram—5% of the monthly limit—patients who rely on edibles can reach their cap much faster than those using concentrates. Why are edibles, which are less potent, treated the same as high-strength concentrates?
We asked patients and researchers to share their thoughts on Utah’s monthly limits for medical cannabis, which many believe fail to address individual needs. For North Ogden patients like Jan Taylor, 70, who manages neuropathy, and her husband Marvin, 74, these restrictions often force them to seek medicine out of state, risking legal repercussions for accessing essential treatment. By pushing patients toward the black market or across state lines, Utah’s rigid limits unintentionally fuel the very issues they aim to prevent.
“Last December, a year ago, my husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer,” Jan Taylor told Salt Baked City. A scan at the doctor’s office revealed that her husband’s cancer had spread to his lymph nodes, his bones, and possibly his lung as well. Doctors said he would not be eligible for an operation, chemotherapy, or radiation. The couple had few options left.
“I started doing a bunch of research to see how I could help him treat it holistically, and I found Rick Simpson Oil, or RSO,” Jan Taylor said. “I mentioned it to him, and he said, ‘I’d be willing to try anything as long as I could get rid of this cancer.’ So, we went down and got his medical marijuana card.”
To effectively treat serious forms of cancer with RSO, the recommended dose in their case was one gram per day for 60 days—far exceeding Utah’s monthly limit. Jan Taylor explained that she and her husband had to find creative ways to work around the restrictions, as the state’s 20-gram cap made it impossible for him to receive his full daily dose. Once they reached the limit, they were forced to seek RSO elsewhere.
A prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test measures the amount of PSA in a patient’s blood to help detect prostate cancer. In other words, hormones indicate how much the cancer has progressed or gone into remission. “Marvin’s PSA has gone from 30 down to .006,” Jan Taylor said. “So, it’s working. But I’m also using a couple of things. We’re doing the RSO, but we’re also doing ivermectin and apricot kernels as well. But it seems to be working because all of his numbers are going down.”
Taylor described the alternative methods she and her husband used to bypass the state’s total composite THC limit, which prevents Marvin from taking RSO daily as recommended by cancer survivors and advocates.
Utah’s Medical Cannabis Dosing Limits vs. Other Medical Cannabis State Programs
How does Utah compare to other states? The fact is, monthly limits on medical cannabis vary wildly from state to state. According to a peer-reviewed report published on Feb. 7, 2023, by Shelby R. Steuart from the Department of Public Administration & Policy at the University of Georgia, there is little rhyme or reason to state monthly medical cannabis limits, as some states go by the gram while others go by physician recommendations.
Steuart’s research revealed a wide disparity in weight-based possession limits for medical cannabis across the United States, ranging from as little as 1.5 grams to a staggering 762.05 grams of pure THC per 30 days. Notably, three states have no set weight limit at all, instead leaving the decision to physicians. Utah, she explained, lands right in the middle compared to other states, where possession limits are often determined based on doses rather than sheer weight.
“In terms of the cannabis possession limit, Utah is average, almost exactly in the middle of U.S. state limits,” Steuart told Salt Baked City. “Roughly four ounces of cannabis flower—not to mention the concentrates—per month is a pretty generous amount, equivalent to about 4,700 5 mg THC doses or about 2,400 10 mg THC doses per month, or 780 mg THC per day.”
However, tolerance is a key factor—patients who require high doses can tolerate significantly larger amounts of THC, while novices may experience strong effects from much smaller doses. “With frequent cannabis use, tolerance does increase,” Steuart said, “but my understanding is not many people need to consume 780 mg of THC per day, so if you are thinking about the limit in terms of daily consumption, it is quite generous.”
While Utah’s limits may seem adequate on paper, the state’s approach to medical cannabis remains notably restrictive in practice. Patients face frequent card renewal requirements compared to other states, where annual or long-term registration is the norm. Adding to the challenge, Utah law imposes arbitrary rules, such as cannabis losing its medical designation if not consumed within 60 days of purchase, creating unnecessary barriers for those who rely on consistent and flexible treatment options.
“These different aspects of cannabis policy in Utah are consistent with the state legalizing medical cannabis fairly recently,” Steuart said. “We can think of early adopters like California as being rather liberal in terms of the extent to which the state controls who has access to medical cannabis and how much they can have, while later adopters tend to be more conservative.”
When Utah voters were blindsided by the Legislature’s efforts to whittle down the state’s voter-approved medical cannabis bill, we lost key provisions, including the right to grow cannabis at home—a surprising move for a state that prides itself on independence and self-sufficiency.
“When later adoption states legalize cannabis, they tend to put extensive measures into the written text of the law to ‘medicalize’ medical cannabis, sometimes even adding it to state prescription drug monitoring programs, only allowing pills or other ‘medical-looking’ formulations, and requiring doctors to write a prescription for each dispensary trip as if it were opioids. They also tend to put additional safety features in place, such as regulations on appearance so it isn’t attractive to children. This may be the level of control needed for bipartisan support and may also be necessary for states or citizens to feel comfortable legalizing after years of news coverage showing cannabis poisonings, emergency department visits, or cannabis-related car accidents in other states.”
Utah’s cautious approach to medical cannabis—reflected in its monthly limits and the decision to group edibles, tinctures, and concentrates under the same cap—underscores the state’s hesitance to fully embrace the plant’s potential. It wasn’t long ago that patients here were presented with bubble packs, as if cannabis could be treated like traditional pharmaceuticals. Progress has been made, but there’s still work to do. Keep pushing state leaders to revisit and refine the rules governing Utah’s medical cannabis system.
