Utah governor candidate's wife strikes plea deal in pot case

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Hours after his wife pleaded guilty to misdemeanor pot-possession charges connected with two pounds of the drug found at their house, Utah's Democratic candidate for governor was expected to talk about the need for legalization of the drug for medical use to address the health issues his wife and others face.
The plea deal calls for a fine and probation rather than jail time for Donna Weinholtz, who was charged after postal workers found a small amount of pot she tried to mail to the couple's home in California earlier this year.
Mike Weinholtz revealed the investigation during his party's convention in April shortly after it began and said then he would push to legalize in Utah the medical marijuana his wife uses for chronic pain.
With the criminal charges resolved, Mike Weinholtz said in a statement he can now speak freely about the case and be more vocal about the issue and its connections to the epidemic of prescription drug abuse. Conservative Utah has passed a very limited medical marijuana law allowing those with severe epilepsy to use cannabis extract oil that doesn't contain psychoactive properties.
Donna Weinholtz suffers from arthritis and degenerative spinal conditions, and she turned to pot instead of opiate painkillers or other invasive treatments, he said.