“It’s a disgrace that Republican leaders have turned their backs on Kentucky’s farmers and veterans, two Republican-leaning teams that immediately profit from authorized hashish.”
By Jim Higdon, Cornbread Hemp
Final week, hope died that Kentucky would be part of 37 different states to legalize medical marijuana with the top of the legislative session. Reason behind loss of life: Senate Republican management.
The Kentucky Home, dominated by a Republican supermajority, handed a really restricted medical marijuana invoice sponsored by Rep. Jason Nemes, a Republican. The invoice was far too strict by any non-Kentucky commonplace, nevertheless it was a step in the fitting course. Its passage would have put Kentucky one step nearer to changing into a more healthy state.
As the info generated in medical marijuana states continues to be studied, it appears clear that states with authorized hashish have a shocking variety of higher outcomes over a variety of key well being indicators. States with authorized medical marijuana have seen a better than 25 % discount in opioid overdoses, and have develop into much less overweight and fewer reliant on the foster care system.
These are three areas the place Kentucky may use some assist. Kentucky at present ranks second for drug overdose mortality, fourth in baby abuse circumstances and fifth in weight problems charges. Medical marijuana, it appears, may assist with all these.
I’m a Kentucky native who is aware of hashish politics, and I’m the co-founder of a Kentucky-based CBD model, Cornbread Hemp. Earlier than that, I used to be a journalist overlaying hashish coverage for POLITICO on Capitol Hill and in state legislatures throughout the nation. Additionally, my father is a Republican state senator in Kentucky. So hashish in Kentucky is a subject and a spot that I perceive.
Earlier this 12 months, I printed a column in Louisville’s Courier-Journal the place I examined latest polling information that confirmed simply how robust the assist is for hashish legalization in Kentucky. In reality, 52 % of Kentucky Republicans are in favor of totally legalizing hashish. The variety of Republicans prepared to go a way more restrictive medical marijuana invoice have to be considerably greater.
A few month in the past, with a few weeks left within the session, Kentucky’s medical marijuana invoice appeared to have all the pieces going for it—it was supported by a majority of all Kentuckians, together with a majority of Republicans, and it handed the Home with loads of time for the Senate to place it on the governor’s desk.
However when Kentucky’s medical marijuana invoice went over to the Senate, Republican leaders refused to ship it to committee, maybe as a result of the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Whitney Westerfield, came out in assist of the medical marijuana invoice throughout the session.
This transfer by the Judiciary Committee chairman denied leaders the power to kill the invoice in committee, so they simply didn’t ship it to a committee in any respect. So when the session ended this previous Thursday night time, a handful of Republican leaders efficiently thwarted the need of the overwhelming majority of Kentuckians, leaving Kentucky among the many final states to supply protected entry to medical hashish to its residents.
There are at present 13 states with out medical marijuana. South Carolina could possibly be the subsequent state to legalize with a Senate-passed invoice into account in its Home, and the North Carolina legislature begins its session subsequent month. On prime of that, three states will seemingly have the medical marijuana query on the poll in November. That might depart Kentucky on an inventory of prohibition states numbering within the single digits by 12 months’s finish, simply as I predicted in a column for the Lexington Herald-Leader earlier this 12 months.
So the place can we go from right here? Regardless of this heart-breaking setback, all isn’t misplaced. For starters, Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, has been supportive of the medical marijuana invoice throughout the session and stated he would take into account govt motion if the invoice didn’t go.
It stays to be seen what the governor may do on this situation, except for instructing regulation enforcement to de-prioritize enforcement of marijuana legal guidelines. That might be nice, however hardly a substitute for a authorized hashish program.
It additionally stays to be seen what penalties Republican leaders pays for killing medical marijuana, if any penalties in any respect. It’s a disgrace that Republican leaders have turned their backs on Kentucky’s farmers and veterans, two Republican-leaning teams that immediately profit from authorized hashish.
Kentucky has been rising the world’s most interesting hashish since 1775. The time to acknowledge that actuality has lengthy since handed. The excellent news is that the subsequent legislative session is simply 9 months away. However with out nationwide pro-cannabis teams coming to Kentucky to assist elect extra Democrats and pro-cannabis Republicans, it’s exhausting to know what is going to change subsequent 12 months.
Jim Higdon is co-founder of Cornbread Hemp, a premium CBD model primarily based in Kentucky. He’s additionally the creator of The Cornbread Mafia, a nonfiction account of the largest home marijuana syndicate in American historical past, which was primarily based in his Kentucky hometown.