On March 14th Senate Bill 47 It was reviewed in the Senate Licensing and Professions Committee by an 8-3 vote, which will now move to the Senate floor.
one of the sponsors of the bill, Senator Stephen West, speaking at the meeting. “I didn’t intend to get into medical marijuana or look at the problem” West explained. He added that two Mason County advocates, Eric and Michelle Crawford, inspired him to look more closely at medical cannabis and its potential benefits.
West reviewed the bill in its current version, which would allow medical cannabis for patients with “any type of cancer regardless of stage, chronic, acute, intractable, debilitating pain, epilepsy or any other intractable seizure disorder.” , multiple sclerosis, muscle spasms or spasticity, chronic nausea or periodic vomiting, post-traumatic stress disorder, and then we added one more recently, any other medical condition or disease that the Kentucky Cannabis Center deems appropriate.”
Although smoking cannabis is prohibited, raw cannabis will be allowed for vaping purposes. The cultivation of cannabis for personal use will also not be permitted. The program will be administered by the Council of Ministers for Health and Family Services, and the regulations will be finalized by January 1, 2025.
Committee Chairman John Schnickel said in response, “I know it’s been a long road for this committee and I want to commend you for your vigilance and for this bill.” “I’ve been working with you and the people who carried that bill before you for years. And you are an example to all of us in class and the way you handle yourself on a controversial issue that people feel passionately both ways.”
The panel also heard from longtime attorney Eric Crawford, who became a quadriplegic in the 1990s when he was involved in a car accident that broke his neck in three places. Crawford testified to the power and necessity of cannabis to improve his quality of life. “Here I am at the Kentucky State Capitol, in a tie, trying to get medical cannabis legal to patients. Medical cannabis relieves constant, uncontrollable muscle spasms. Medical cannabis relieves my constant, never-ending pain. Cannabis helps me. I’ve been paralyzed since Almost 30 years old, and I know what works best for me,” Crawford told the panel.
in March 2022, the Kentucky House passed House Bill 136, which would have legalized medical cannabis. However, it faltered in the Senate, and so the advocates decided to start in the Senate for this session. Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer has opposed medical cannabis for some time, and it remains an obstacle to the movement. In January, he declared that medical cannabis is a gateway to recreational legalization. “I’ve heard about it for years. I know my constituents support it, but this is a republic, and they elect us to go to Frankfurt and make decisions for them,” Thayer said. “If they don’t like it, they can take it out on me at the next election.” newly, NORML Thayer Clubasking him to uphold the will of the people and “do the job you were elected to do.”
In November 2022, Governor Andy Beshear signed an executive order allowing patient access to medical cannabis and Delta 8. His order went into effect on January 1, 2023, but only through legislation can legalization of medical cannabis become a reality. “The executive order is not going to make it right for anyone on the medical marijuana front. What it will guarantee is that they are not criminals,” Bashir said in January. And these are the limitations that I have in the executive power and the limitations that other countries put in if we don’t have our full programme. That’s why it’s so important for the legislature to move forward and pass medical marijuana.”
