Data shows two people are charged with marijuana every hour, every day in Kentucky

Despite the dramatic shift in opinion about cannabis in America, Kentucky law enforcement continued to regularly file cannabis-related charges against individuals, alongside crimes across the board.

More than 300,000 people in Kentucky have been charged with a cannabis-related crime over the past two decades, according to an analysis of data from the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). That’s nearly two people per hour, every day between June 2002 and July 2022, the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy wrote. To be fair, only one in 10 of the 3.1 million people charged with a crime in Kentucky during that period were charged with cannabis, but the numbers are still too high.

“In every corner of the commonwealth, people have been charged with cannabis crimes, with dozens charged in some counties and tens of thousands in others,” the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy wrote.

“The data also shows significantly different conviction rates, with some rural areas almost twice as likely to convict someone on a cannabis charge than Kentucky’s largest city. Although much of the country has moved toward more permissive policies, people in Kentuckians continue to face prison time, large fines, community supervision, and criminal charges for cannabis crimes. These consequences have lasting, detrimental effects on people’s economic security, employment, health, housing, and ability to fully participate in community life. And these consequences often disproportionately affect low-income, black and brown Kentuckians.”

Possession of cannabis remains the most common charge in Kentucky, a Class B misdemeanor that can result in up to 45 days in jail and a fine of up to $250.

Cannabis fees impact lives

How widespread is the problem? The report’s county-by-county data also shows that every community in the state has been impacted. “In every Kentucky county, people have been charged with cannabis offenses over these two decades – from 68 people in Robertson County to 72,717 in Jefferson County,” the report said. “Expressed as the number of annualized cannabis-related charges per 1,000 county residents over two decades, 1.5 people per 1,000 were charged with cannabis in Robertson County, as opposed to 8.4 people per 1,000 in Carroll County . Lyon County is an outlier, with 16.4 people per 1,000 people charged with cannabis.”

The report was created and written by authors Kaylee Raymer, Ashley Spalding, Pam Thomas, Dustin Pugel and Carmen Mitchell. You can read the Center’s full report in PDF format here.

“While most of those 300,000 people have been charged with possession, their lives are still impacted,” Kaylee Raymer, policy analyst at the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, told Fox 56. “Whether it’s through fines and fees, it could impact their ability “Doing this will impact their ability to get public housing or their ability to get a job if that is on their record. So there are still consequences associated with cannabis-related allegations.”

The Kentucky Legislature lowered the penalty for cannabis possession in 2011 and the 2023 General Assembly took a major step toward legalizing a limited model of medical cannabis starting in 2025. The only qualifying conditions are chronic pain, chronic nausea/vomiting, epilepsy/ Seizure disorder, multiple sclerosis, muscle spasms/spasticity and post-traumatic stress disorder.

However, despite the shift in public opinion, Kentucky is still among only 18 “cannabis desert” states that continue to ban cannabis.

Over the past two decades — from July 1, 2002 to June 29, 2022 — an estimated 303,264 people in Kentucky have been charged with various cannabis offenses, according to AOC data released by the Vera Institute of Justice. Since 1983, the number of inmates in prisons has increased 168%, the Vera Institute of Justice reported in its latest Incarceration Trends Report.

In 2019, 20,087 people were charged with a cannabis offense, with a conviction rate of 53%. However, due to the pandemic, there were far fewer arrests and trial delays as most courts were closed.

Strangely, although cannabis is considered by many to be virtually harmless, the conviction rate for cannabis has remained stable, as have the conviction rate for all crimes. Between 2003 and 2021, the conviction rate for people charged with cannabis offenses was 59% and for all offenses it averaged 63%.

New Changes to Kentucky Cannabis Law

There are also new laws, particularly regarding hemp-derived cannabinoids.

On March 23, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear signed a bill regulating hemp-derived delta-8 THC products. Beshear signed an executive order last year regulating delta-8 THC and similar products, but it only affected the products’ packaging and labeling.

House Bill 544 mandates that only adults 21 and older can purchase products containing delta-8-THC — a hemp-derived compound that is often marketed as psychoactive — and went into effect on August 1.

Under the bill, the state will regulate “any product that contains delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol or any other hemp-derived substance that the Cabinet of Health and Family Services has determined to have an intoxicating effect on consumers.”