Joe Sonka, Courier Journal Published 5:06 p.m. ET Feb. 20, 2020 | Updated 6:11 p.m. ET Feb. 20, 2020
Several bills in the 2020 session of the Kentucky General Assembly deal with the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana. Courier Journal
FRANKFORT — After a decade of failed attempts, the state House on Thursday passed a bill to legalize medical marijuana in Kentucky.
Following more than two hours of debate on the bill and more than a dozen floor amendments, House Bill 136 passed by a 65-30 vote.
All but two Democratic members of the House voted for the bill, as did a slight majority of the Republican members present.
The legislation now heads to the Senate, where it faces an uphill climb in a chamber with a large conservative majority and led by President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, who has expressed skepticism about legalizing medical marijuana until further research on its effects has been published.
House Bill 136 would allow doctors to prescribe cannabis and set up a regulatory framework for patients to obtain it at approved dispensaries. The renamed Department of Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Control would implement and regulate the new state program.
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Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, the main sponsor of the bill, said after a number of compromises to the legislation, it would be “the tightest medical marijuana law in the country.”
Among the compromises in the bill are its ban on smoking medical marijuana, a provision allowing counties to opt out of the medical marijuana program, and a prohibition on public usage and homegrown plants.
Rep. Stan Lee, R-Lexington, spoke against the bill, saying it would be a slippery slope that could lead to the legalization of recreational marijuana in the near future and could send the wrong message to children.
“If you lift the tent up a little and let the nose in, it’s not going to stop,” Lee said.
Lee’s suggestions were seconded by Rep. Jim DuPlessis, R-Elizabethtown, who claimed that crime and homelessness have spiked in Colorado since that state legalized marijuana, which could soon befall Kentucky.
Rep. Cluster Howard, D-Jackson, who has sponsored a bill this session to legalize recreational marijuana, advocated for the bill’s passage, saying “we need to get out of the dark ages and vote for this bill.”
Rep. Al Gentry, D-Louisville, who lost his right arm in a 1993 accident, emotionally recounted how he lost many of his friends to opioids. He said they played with him in a golf league for people with disabilities, and added that marijuana could be a much safer alternative medicine to treat chronic pain.
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After the passage of his bill, Nemes told reporters that “We have momentum, but we’re not there yet.”
Stivers told reporters Thursday he believes the medical marijuana bill has a “narrow path” to passage in the Senate, though he and other Republicans are concerned about the lack of conclusive studies by federal entities such as the Food and Drug Administration.
“I think people are going to look at it and consider it,” he said.
Referencing Stivers’ common phrase that medical marijuana has a “narrow path” in the Senate, Nemes told reporters that “House Bill 136 is that narrow path.”
“I think a majority of his members will agree with it, and I’m going to ask (Stivers) to give us a vote,” Nemes said.
Responding to Republican critics who warned the bill was a slippery slope, Nemes said that “this bill is not about fun. This is about healing. This is about health.”
Nemes added that the passage of the bill through the House couldn’t have happened without the grassroots activism of medical marijuana advocates, saying he can’t go out in public without being thanked by strangers for sponsoring the bill.
“This bill is about love,” Nemes said. “These advocates are working their tails off because they love the people who will be helped by this. They love their spouses, they love their children.”
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Reporter Debby Yetter contributed to this report. Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com or 502-582-4472 and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courierjournal.com/subscribe.
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