House committee advances medical marijuana bill

Third time the committee has passed similar legislation

FRANKFORT, Ky. (KT) – A measure to legalize medical marijuana in Kentucky, as it is in more than three dozen other states, took its first step forward Thursday evening, winning passage in the House Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, is the sponsor of House Bill 136, as he was the other two times this legislation won approval by the panel. This is also the third time the committee has passed similar legislation. Once, it didn’t get a House floor vote. The second time it cleared that chamber, but that was in 2020, when the session ended early due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the Senate never took a vote.

Nemes told the committee there were only five medical conditions listed in the bill for which medical marijuana could be approved. Those are cancer at any stage; chronic, severe, intractable or debilitating pain; epilepsy or other seizure disorders; Multiple Sclerosis; and chronic nausea.

“The best part about this bill is it lets sick people get safe product,” he testified.  “This is the perfect bill and is the right thing to do.”

The bill would divide the process of delivering the product into four places: the farmer who grows the product, the processors, the dispensary, and safety testers. While anyone could be in any number of the first three steps, safety testers could only operate in that category. No physician or pharmacist could be involved in any part of the processing.   

As for fears this could open the door to fully legalizing marijuana in Kentucky, Nemes told the panel, “I do not support recreational marijuana. I have never used marijuana in my life. If my sons use marijuana recreationally, there are going to be some big problems with mom and dad.”

Rep. Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill, who has a healthcare background, said she had heard from physicians who have concerns with legalization. “They know that there are medicinal qualities, but they just don’t know how to dose it, they don’t know how to prescribe it, and from the feedback I’m getting, they don’t want to be in the middle of it.”

In the end, the bill passed 15-1, with Moser casting the lone no vote, so the measure now heads to the full House.