Kentucky Legislature Supports Legal Cannabis

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]A[/dropcap]fter years of no traction for passing legal cannabis, legislators in Kentucky finally seem to be supporting medical cannabis legalization.

According to Local 12 in Kentucky, even those who oppose even medical cannabis are now willing to concede that legalization for some conditions makes sense. House Bill 136, sponsored by State Rep. Buddy Wheatley, would legalize cannabis prescribed only in certain, specific cases. “The evidence seems to be coming in very strong that there are certain conditions, and that’s important too, certain conditions that medical marijuana could be very helpful,” Wheatley told Local 12.

The main reason that Kentucky hasn’t been able to make any progress is that Senate President Robert Stivers has expressed being strongly against it. However, now he is changing his tune a bit and claiming there could be a “narrow path forward” for legalization. “I think that was a very positive statement that he mentioned,” said Jaime Montalvo with Kentuckians for Medicinal Marijuana in relation to the “narrow path forward” question. “We’ve been working on Sen. Stivers for a very long time. I see that he is open to it now, even though it is a very limited scope.”

“They’re not for everybody to have fun out on the street. House Bill 136 and Senate Bill 107 are about patients who have quality-of-life issues and need an alternative to the pharmaceuticals they have right now,” Montalvo added.

So far, 44 of the state’s 100 representatives have sponsored House Bill 136, and many have also sponsored Senate Bill 107, the companion bill to House Bill 136. “There is strong support and there is strong support in the House especially where I’m most familiar and the Senate . . . our local senators from Northern Kentucky and the general, all the rest of the senators and the General Assembly, it is favorable overall,” Wheatley said.

Ever since Kentucky filed this bill, cannabis advocates have been excited. Kentucky is also starting to embrace hemp, and it looks like medical cannabis could finally be on the horizon.