The Utah Supreme Court established new law recently regarding drug possession.  In an interesting opinion, the Court found an affirmative  defense to possession of a controlled substance deemed “innocent possession” and/or “transitory possession.”  The opinion reads in part:

[W]e remand for a new trial at which Miller is entitled to the following innocent possession defense instruction: the defendant’s possession of the controlled substances found in his pocket did not violate Utah Code subsection 58-37-8(2)(a)(I) if (1) the controlled substance was obtained innocently and held with no illicit or illegal purpose, and (2) the possession of the controlled substance was transitory; that is, the defendant took adequate measures to rid himself of possession of the controlled substance as promptly as reasonably possible.

State v. Miller, 2008 UT 61