Each year the laws on marijuana in the United States change from state to state, and it can be difficult to keep up. We wanted to put all of the important changes to the laws in one place, to make things easier for you. Take a closer look at the newest additions to the Kentucky Marijuana Laws below!
Status: Illegal
Decriminalized: No
Medical: No
Medical Marijuana Bill Approved By Judiciary Committee, But House Doesn’t Act
After many weeks of delays, the House Judiciary Committee in Kentucky, finally had a vote on medial cannabis in March of 2019. This was just a week before the legislation would close, but got an overwhelming approval of 16-1 in favor of the bill HB-136.
Unfortunately, the House adjourned just a week later, and took no action on the proposed bill. Medical patients will have to wait until 2020 to pass a new medical bill through legislature.
Over the years, the support for medical marijuana has been growing in the state of Kentucky. 2018 brought about two new faces to the legislation, and began promoting medical cannabis in the town of Frankfort. Representatives Diane St. Onge and Jason Nemes of Louisville and Fort Wright, sponsored the medical marijuana bill, and convinced the judiciary committee, in 2019, to support it.
In late 2017, Alison Grimes, the Secretary of State, got involved with the medical marijuana efforts. In March of 2018, Rand Paul, the U.S. Senator, showed his support for medical cannabis as well.
In 2015, governor Matt Bevin was elected after he showed the state that he supported medical marijuana. Even though Bevin hasn’t acted on anything yet, he did mention that if a bill reached his desk, he would most certainly sign it.
Senator of Kentucky Advocates for Bill to End Prohibition on Medical Cannabis
In 2017, Dan Seum, Chairman of the Senate Majority Caucus, announced that he would stand behind a bill that would regulate and tax cannabis. (SB-80) unfortunately did not receive a vote in 2018. He did however propose a similar bill for the 2019 session.
In September of 2018, Matt Bevin declared that regulation and legalization of marijuana wasn’t going to happen while he was governor.
Although it may seem that the road to legalization and taxation of marijuana is long and never ending, senators Clark and Seum have begun conversations to finally end prohibition in Kentucky.
Governor Signs CBD Bill
In April of 2014, the governor of Kentucky Steve Beshear signed a bill that would allow patients to use CBD (cannabidiol) which is the non-psychoactive part of marijuana, as long as they are directed by their primary physician. Even though the bill was signed, it still needs revised through legislature in order to give patients easy access to CBD.
Stay tuned for more updates on the Kentucky Marijuana Laws!
