Democratic lawmakers in Kentucky are taking a three-tiered method to hashish legalization in the course of the 2023 legislative session, together with laws, government motion, and a proposed constitutional modification, LinkNKY stories. The push follows an government order final yr from Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, which took impact January 1.
On the primary day of session, Rep. Rachel Roberts (D) filed a close to duplicate of the invoice she filed final yr which goals to totally legalize adult-use hashish within the state. The measure, L.E.T.T.’s Develop Hashish, would legalize gross sales, expunge low-level possession crimes, enable medical hashish gross sales and use, and tax gross sales.
Roberts informed LinkNKY that together with a swath of reforms in a single invoice might “be greatest” for lawmakers “after which to interrupt that into different payments which may be extra digestible at moments in time.”
“…That could possibly be the constructing blocks that get us to that final aim,” she stated, which she described as “seed to sale.”
“We’re nonetheless incarcerating folks in Kentucky for low-level hashish offenses, together with reincarcerating folks for parole violations. So that is an financial problem for us. It’s a prison justice problem for us.” — Roberts to LinkNKY
The proposal from Rep. Nima Kulkarni (D) would decriminalize private use possession by way of a 2024 constitutional modification. The proposed modification would seem on ballots as: “Do you wish to decriminalize possession of hashish as much as an oz. and cultivation of 5 vegetation for adults 21 and over within the Commonwealth?”
“I don’t wish to have the legalization dialog with out full decriminalization measures,” Kulkarni stated within the report.
Beshear’s 2022 government order didn’t legalize medical hashish gross sales, however relatively offers protections for Kentuckians with a medical supplier’s assertion to own as much as eight ounces of hashish for medical functions if bought legally in one other state. Beshear has admitted that the system doesn’t “make it handy for anybody” nevertheless it was his response to the state Senate twice refusing to behave on Home-passed medical hashish laws.
“What it’ll guarantee is that they’re not a prison,” Beshear informed Kentucky Well being Information earlier this month. “I don’t need them to must drive to Illinois, however that takes an act of the legislature. I need our folks to have the ability to get it near house.”
Throughout the first day of the session, Senate President Robert Stivers (R) informed LinkNKY that whereas he’s not against medical hashish, the reforms should be completed in an acceptable manner – via further analysis. He added that it could come to the chamber for a vote “if there are the votes within the caucus.”
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