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The governor of Kentucky says medical marijuana is \u201cthe future,\u201d and part of that future should involve letting farmers grow cannabis to sell to other states.<\/p>\n
Gov. Andy Beshear (D) talked about how legalizing medical marijuana is a priority for him in the coming legislative session during an interview with 44 News that aired on Wednesday. He also expressed openness to broader legislation that would allow adults 21 and older to grow and possess cannabis without having a medical reason for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the future. It\u2019s where things are going,\u201d he said of medical marijuana. \u201cIt\u2019s time we joined so many other states in doing the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beshear, who called on lawmakers to pass the reform<\/a> during a State of the Commonwealth address in January, said that \u201cit is past time\u201d to legalize cannabis for medical use and that the plant \u201ccan provide some relief for folks that would otherwise turn to more damaging substances.\u201d<\/p>\n Kentucky is uniquely situated to benefit from the policy change, he added<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cKentucky and our topography, our farmers could benefit significantly from legalization of medicinal marijuana and then allowing them to grow medicinal marijuana for other states,\u201d the governor said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not exactly clear what he\u2019s referring to with respect to interstate commerce of marijuana. While hemp can be transported across state lines because it was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill, such actively is still strictly prohibited when it comes to marijuana regardless of state laws.<\/p>\n There are some activists and lawmakers who are hoping to get some federal guidance<\/a> on the possibility of selling marijuana between legal states without prosecution. A coalition of cannabis organizations recently began rallying the business community to join them in asking governors from four key states to seek such guidance from the Justice Department.<\/p>\n As it stands, each state cannabis market is siloed within its own state borders. That means, for example, that marijuana sold and consumed in Massachusetts is also grown there instead of being grown in, say, California, where it might make more environmental sense to conduct outdoor cultivation.<\/p>\n Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) has already signaled that she\u2019d be on board, signing a bill in 2019 that would\u00a0allow marijuana to be imported and exported from other states<\/a>\u00a0if federal law or policy provides for it. Activists had hoped to get similar legislation enacted in California last year, but the coronavirus pandemic derailed that.<\/p>\n Two congressional lawmakers who\u2019ve already set the groundwork for the policy change are Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR). Shortly after Oregon\u2019s governor signed the interstate commerce bill, the federal legislators\u00a0filed a bill that would similarly allow for such activity<\/a>, preventing the Justice Department from interfering in states that have affirmative agreements to sell marijuana across state lines. The legislation did not advance, however.<\/p>\n Back in Kentucky, the governor also said in the new interview that the state should be \u201copen to conversations\u201d about legalizing marijuana, and he voiced support for cannabis reform legislation that was recently pre-filed.<\/p>\n While Beshear says his focus will be on getting medical cannabis enacted in the coming legislative session, he also talked about legislation introduced by Rep. Nima Kulkarni (D) late last month would prevent people from being incarcerated over marijuana, saying he\u2019s in favor of that policy.<\/p>\n Kulkarni\u2019s bill would legalize the possession and personal cultivation of cannabis<\/a>. So when the governor said in the interview that it would \u201cnot legalize recreational marijuana,\u201d it seems he\u2019s referring to the fact that the legislation doesn\u2019t provide a regulatory framework for commercial sales.<\/p>\n \u2014 \u201cIt just says that nobody ought to go to jail for simply using marijuana, and I agree with that,\u201d Beshear said. \u201cWhen when we look at folks that are using versus selling, we need better methods certainly than arrest and incarceration, but we also in the future ought to at least be open to conversations on the recreational side.\u201d<\/p>\n The governor is all-in on medical cannabis, though. But he wants to ensure that regulations are strategically put in place so that the program is a success.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to have the right structure to make sure [a medical cannabis program] is not abused here in Kentucky\u2014that it\u2019s actually prescribed for medical purposes\u2014and that requires having the right framework,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no need to get in the weeds about what office or cabinet [should regulate cannabis], but we want to set it up to have an opportunity for success and not just to score political points.\u201d<\/p>\n The Republican sponsor of a bill to legalize medical marijuana in Kentucky said in October that he made multiple revisions to the legislation to scale it back<\/a>\u00a0and add restrictions to garner more support from colleagues\u2014and he said he\u2019s confident it would pass if legislative leaders had the \u201ccourage\u201d to simply allow a vote on it.<\/p>\n Rep. Jason Nemes (R) filed a medical legalization bill that\u00a0soundly passed the House last year<\/a>\u00a0but later died in the Senate without a vote amid the early part of the coronavirus pandemic. He\u00a0reintroduced the legislation<\/a>\u00a0in January for the 2021 session but it did not advance this year. Now he\u2019s working to build support for a new version for 2022.<\/p>\n A poll released last year found<\/a> that nine out of 10 Kentucky residents support legalizing medical marijuana, and almost 60 percent say cannabis should be legal under \u201cany circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n Missouri Police Couldn\u2019t Use Marijuana Odor To Justify Searches Under New Bill<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Kentucky Governor Wants To Let Farmers Sell Marijuana To Other States<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The governor of Kentucky says medical marijuana is \u201cthe future,\u201d and part of that future should involve letting farmers grow cannabis to sell to other states. Gov. Andy Beshear (D) talked about how legalizing medical marijuana is a priority for him in the coming legislative session during an interview withContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":51641,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51640"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51640"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51642,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51640\/revisions\/51642"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Kentucky Governor Wants To Let Farmers Sell Marijuana To Other States<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"