FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Senate voted Thursday to legalize clinical marijuana in the point out, providing a breakthrough endorsement following many years of resisting entry to hashish for people today struggling from a sequence of debilitating sicknesses.
The evaluate was passed by the Senate on a 26-11 vote, sending it the Residence, which has supported healthcare cannabis measures in the previous. Republicans have supermajorities in both chambers.
“This is 1 of individuals troubles where by you get out the ledger and you listing the execs and drawbacks,” claimed Republican Sen. Stephen West, the bill’s lead sponsor. “And it is a lengthy record on equally sides. But for me individually, the execs outweigh the negatives.”
Republican Sen. Gary Boswell opposed the monthly bill, referring to hashish as “a drug, not a medicine.” He explained the qualifying professional medical categories shown in the evaluate are “too broad.”
The extraordinary vote came before lawmakers begun an prolonged break to give Gov. Andy Beshear time to consider signing or vetoing the stacks of expenditures despatched to him. The House can get up the healthcare marijuana proposal in late March, when lawmakers will reconvene for the ultimate two times of this year’s legislative session.
Republican Rep. Jason Nemes, a leading supporter of legalizing medical cannabis, was upbeat about the bill’s likelihood in the Household when lawmakers return to the statehouse.
“We passed it (in the Home) with really sturdy majorities two moments, so I can only believe that we’ll have very solid potential clients this 12 months,” he mentioned after the Senate vote.
The measure — Senate Monthly bill 47 — heading to the House would legalize and regulate healthcare marijuana.
Underneath the evaluate, health care hashish could be approved for a certain listing of situations, which includes cancer, various sclerosis, chronic discomfort, epilepsy, serious nausea and article-traumatic anxiety dysfunction.
A individual would have to be accredited for a card allowing its use. A individual under 18 couldn’t possess or get clinical cannabis without help from a selected caregiver.
Most notably, the monthly bill wouldn’t acquire effect till the start of 2025, to allow for point out wellness officers time to craft polices to oversee the plan.
Annoyed by the several years of inaction, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear partially lifted the state’s ban on medical hashish final year. Beshear’s action makes it possible for Kentuckians to have medical cannabis for specified conditions, offered it’s acquired lawfully in other states. They need to have to retain their receipt for proof and require certification from a accredited overall health care supplier to verify they have a qualifying ailment.
