Some scholars have linked the two events, arguing that cannabis usage by Mormon returnees who had earlier fled to Mexico led the church, and later the state, to make their decisions.
[3] The decriminalization effort in 1971 was said to be strong in Utah due to the state's high rate of use of cannabis, and the preference of Latter-day Saints to handle matters within the church and family.
[4] As medical and recreational cannabis decriminalization movements began in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century in the United States, the LDS Church has been asked for its position on the issue.
These two competing pieces of legislation take very different approaches when it comes to issues like access, distribution, control and the potential harm of the hallucinogenic compound, THC.
[8] In a 2019 article in the church's youth magazine New Era, the following statement was given regarding cannabis: Marijuana may be legal for medicinal or even recreational use in a lot of places now, but that doesn't mean that any use is suddenly not against the Word of Wisdom.