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‘Trib Talk’: Marijuana could be a cash crop for the few Utah farmers who win a license to grow it

Related Topics: Utah, cash crop, to grow

Eighty-one farmers have applied to receive one of 10 state licenses to legally grow cannabis and supply the state’s nascent medical marijuana program, giving each applicant roughly 1 in 8 odds of cultivating crops to meet the state’s demand.

But exactly how significant that demand will be is unknown, as Utah’s law restricts legal marijuana use to a smaller pool of qualifying patients than a ballot initiative approved by voters last year, and because many Utahns are culturally and ideologically skeptical of what is still an illegal drug under federal law.