While Kentucky gears up to get its medical cannabis industry up and moving, a new piece of legislation could usher in an innovative, limited legalization cannabis model for the Bluegrass State.
Rep. Nima Kulkarni (D) introduced the bill, House Bill 72, on Tuesday, which would end all penalties for simple possession and use of recreational cannabis for adults over age 21. The legislation would also allow for adults of legal age to grow a small number of cannabis plants for personal use, although commercial sales would still be outlawed, Marijuana Moment reports.
Kulkarni has been a consistent advocate for cannabis reform, previously introducing a measure that would have let voters decide whether to legalize cannabis use, possession and home cultivation. In the 2022 legislative session, Kulkarni also introduced a similar noncommercial cannabis legalization proposal.
The new proposal would allow adults over 21 to possess up to an ounce of cannabis in plant form, five grams of hemp- or cannabis-derived cannabinoids, products containing up to 1,000 mg of delta-8 and delta-9 THC or five or fewer cannabis plants.
The newly introduced legislation would end penalties, including arrest, for noncommercial possession and cultivation. It would also ensure that cannabis use could not be used as grounds to revoke probation, parole or conditional release and remove penalties around use, manufacture and delivery of cannabis-related paraphernalia. Advertising these items in publications would still be against the law, however.
Possessing more than the personal use limit would be considered a Class B misdemeanor, and those violating the limit would be subject to up to 45 days of jail time plus fines.
Kentucky’s trafficking penalties apply to those who “knowingly and unlawfully traffic in marijuana” and would apply to people with more than the personal use quantity and less than eight ounces of cannabis. Under the new legislation, it would be considered a Class A misdemeanor on the first offense and a Class D felony on second and subsequent offenses. Greater possession amounts would also be subject to higher penalties.
Additionally, those who grow more than five cannabis plants under the proposal would be subject to a Class D felony. Subsequent offenses would be considered Class C felonies.
The bill would also introduce civil penalties for those choosing to grow cannabis who exceed harvested amounts beyond the one-ounce personal possession limit, including $1,000 for each plant “with foliation which exceeds a personal use quantity of cannabis” and $3.50 for each gram that has been detached from the plant and exceeds the legislation’s updated personal use limit.
The bill would also allow for expungements of criminal charges or convictions for any conduct the legislation would make legal. The Administrative Office of the Courts would need to determine a process of identifying and expunging the convictions. Specifically, the courts would need to order the judgments vacated and expunge related records within 200 days of the bill’s passage. For those individuals with eligible convictions that hadn’t been expunged within a year after the law goes into effect, they would be allowed to petition the court to clear their records.
The AOC would also need to file a report by Dec. 1, 2025 to provide data by county on the numbers of eligible convictions, objections filed with the court and the number of expungements the court has granted.
The bill comes as the state works to implement its medical cannabis program, which Gov. Andy Beshear (D) signed into law in March 2023. The measure was passed by the GOP-led legislator in 2023, specifying eligible conditions including cancer, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, epilepsy, chronic nausea and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Beshear said that the law is meant to provide relief to Kentuckians with “severe medical conditions” and should be expanded, noting that qualifying conditions should eventually grow to include ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Crohn’s disease, sickle cell anemia, cachexia or wasting syndrome, neuropathies, severe arthritis, hepatitis C, fibromyalgia, muscular dystrophy, Huntington’s disease, HIV, AIDS, glaucoma and terminal illness.
Kentucky’s medical program is expected to launch in 2025, and those who are interested in following along with the implementation process can visit the state’s program website.
