Kentucky Lawmakers Push Medical Cannabis Legalization Bill |

A Kentucky Legislative Committee voted Thursday to introduce a bill legalizing medicinal cannabis, two days after the legislation received the endorsement of a key state senator. The measure, House Bill 136, passed with strong bipartisan support by the House Judiciary Committee by a vote of 15-1.

According to Republican Rep. Jason Nemes’ measure, patients with one or more specific medical conditions could be given a recommendation on the medical use of cannabis. Prerequisites for the use of medicinal cannabis are multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, epilepsy and nausea. Nemes told his colleagues that the bill would help sick people.

“I think the debate over whether medical cannabis is helping people or not is over,” Nemes said. “I don’t think there is anyone, even the most staunch opponent, who says it doesn’t help some people.”

The legislation also creates a regulatory framework to regulate medical cannabis growers, processors, dispensaries and testing labs. The Kentucky House of Representatives passed a similar bill in 2020, but the bill failed to win the state Senate’s approval.

At the committee hearing on Thursday, Nemes said he does not support the legalization of recreational cannabis and had once been opposed to the legalization of medicinal cannabis. But after talking to patients and experts, he changed his stance on the matter.

“I will never forget that mother who leaned down and touched my hand. She told me what it meant to her child, and everyone walked around the room and said what it meant to them,” Nemes told his colleagues on the committee. “And I thought there are good people here, really good people, and I don’t agree with them. So I started questioning it. I spoke to doctors and did a lot of research on this topic.”

Kentucky lawmakers hear from patients using medicinal cannabis

The committee heard from Eric Crawford, who was paralyzed in a 1994 car accident. He testified that cannabis was successful in treating symptoms that drugs could not help.

“Medical cannabis relaxes my constant uncontrollable muscle spasms. Medicinal cannabis relieves my constant chronic pain. Cannabis helps me,” he said. “Medical cannabis allows me to be a more productive member of society and gives me a better quality of life. It allows me to be a better husband, son and friend than pharmacy allows.”

Crawford also told lawmakers that he felt his state was failing him by not approving a drug that works for him.

“We all deserve legal access to a safe product without fear of the law,” he added. “Don’t turn the sick into criminals”

Nemes acknowledged that the bill includes provisions that will result in a highly restrictive medical cannabis program, including a limited list of qualified medical conditions and measures that allow local governments to opt out of legalization. The legislation also prohibits smoking cannabis. Nemes said the bill was “tighter” than he would have preferred in a bid to gain support for the legislation among conservative lawmakers. Both the House of Representatives and the Kentucky Senate are Republican-majority leaders.

Democratic MP Nima Kulkarni, who voted in favor of the bill, said the measure should include provisions to restore justice, such as overturning weed-related convictions, saying, “People may be in jail or have convictions on their records.” about that. but we let some people benefit from the medicinal properties of cannabis.”

Rep. Chad McCoy, a Bard Republican, also voted in favor of House Bill 136 but said the legislation does not go far enough.

“I know what it takes to get a law passed, but I hate this law, I think it’s too restrictive, I think it’s too narrow, I think it’s too much government,” McCoy said.

The only lawmaker who voted against the law, GOP Rep. Kim Moser, said the measure would result in excessive government red tape. She also said that more research is needed on the medical effectiveness of cannabis.

“If the FDA would take a stand on this and actually make it a drug like any other natural product, then we wouldn’t have to change 39 laws and create this bureaucracy,” Moser said.

Key Senator endorses Bill

On Tuesday, HB 136 received approval from Republican Senator Whitney Westerfield, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Despite expressing reservations about the potential recreational use of cannabis by young people, Westerfield said in a social media post that he would support the bill.

“I also have concerns about the precedent we are setting by ignoring federal law,” Westerfield wrote in a statement on Twitter. “However, I’ve heard too many stories, in my district and outside, from those who have long suffered and their loved ones left behind, that marijuana brought comfort and relief when nothing else worked.”

Nemes told reporters that Westerfield’s endorsement improves the bill’s chances of a Senate-wide vote.

“It’s going to go to the Senate, it’s going to be assigned to his committee, and if you support the chairman, that’s huge, and that’s why Whitney’s support is a game changer,” Nemes said.

HB 136 is now being dealt with by the House as a whole, which Nemes says could vote on the measure as early as next week. Last month, a trio of Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation that would legalize both medical and adult use of cannabis in Kentucky.