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The governor of Kentucky said on Thursday that he\u2019s \u201cactively considering\u201d possible marijuana clemency actions the state can take following President Joe Biden\u2019s pardon announcement last week<\/a>\u2014and he\u2019s directed a review of state-level cannabis cases to inform future steps.<\/p>\n In the interim, he\u2019s encouraging people who\u2019ve been convicted over marijuana alone to apply<\/a> for a pardon.<\/p>\n During a press briefing, Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said that he had \u201cno idea\u201d that the president was planning to issue the mass pardon for people who\u2019ve committed federal cannabis possession offenses and urge governors to follow suit\u2014but the state administration has \u201ctaken the last seven days to go over what it means federally and then to look at the correlating state statutes.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of that process, the governor said that he\u2019s asked the state\u2019s Administrative Office of the Courts to conduct an analysis to determine how many Kentuckians have misdemeanor marijuana charges on their records and the possible impact of pardons.<\/p>\n Beshear said that he\u2019s continuing to advocate for medical cannabis legalization in the state, but he also recognizes the importance of providing relief to those who\u2019ve been criminalized over marijuana and he\u2019s \u201ctrying to be thoughtful and get out all the pieces\u201d about how to facilitate that in alignment with Biden\u2019s request.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will take a very close look at [clemency] as we further analyze our ability to move towards legalization of medical cannabis, as well as this request on simple possession,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He did caveat that pardons don\u2019t have the same impact as expungements; a pardon is formal forgiveness for the offense, whereas an expungement wipes a person\u2019s record clean. But he said that people should still take advantage of the existing system that allows them to submit a pardon application, particularly if they\u2019ve been convicted over misdemeanor marijuana violations.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just trying to set out the context that things are a little different here in Kentucky. But, nonetheless, some people may have a hard time getting a job because of a misdemeanor, simple possession conviction,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is something that can get expunged. And I also wanted to make sure I got out there for those that are advocating for the difference between a pardon and an expungement and what people might want to be looking at.\u201d<\/p>\n Beshear isn\u2019t the only governor who\u2019s taken steps to explore cannabis clemency actions<\/a> since Biden\u2019s pardon proclamation. And advocates have stressed the need for state-level reform given that the vast majority of marijuana cases are prosecuted in states.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the governor recently released a report<\/a> from a\u00a0medical marijuana advisory committee that he formed<\/a> in June, and he said late last month that he would be taking their findings into account as he continues to consider executive actions for reform.<\/p>\n On Thursday, he cited the findings of a non-scientific poll that the Team Kentucky Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee conducted online, which showed that 99 percent of the 3,539 respondents believe that medical cannabis should be legalized.<\/p>\n The committee\u2019s report also determined that while the governor many be able to enact some reforms unilaterally, most of its recommendations to provide patients with medical cannabis access \u201cwould require legislative action\u201d\u2014a problem given some leading lawmakers\u2019 opposition to moving ahead.<\/p>\n In April, the governor\u00a0previewed plans to advance the issue<\/a>\u00a0of medical marijuana administratively, criticizing the Senate for failing to heed the will of voters and for \u201cobstructing\u201d reform by refusing to even give a hearing to a House-passed bill this year.<\/p>\n Beshear has made several recent comments about\u00a0the possibility of taking executive action on cannabis policy<\/a>, but with\u00a0a House-passed medical marijuana legalization bill<\/a>\u00a0dead after the end of the legislative session, he\u2019s expressed openness to administrative action.<\/p>\n A medical cannabis legalization bill from Rep. Jason Nemes (R) that passed the House this year did not get a required Senate reading ahead of a legislative deadline to advance this session, but there were some who had held out hope that its provisions could have been attached to separate legislation before time ran out on the session.<\/p>\n \u2014 That was some wishful thinking, especially in light of remarks from Senate leadership challenging or outright opposing the idea of passing medical marijuana reform this year.<\/p>\n Senate Floor Leader Damon Thayer (R) steadfastly opposes the broader medical cannabis policy change, having warned that it\u2019s a fast-track to full legalization. He said in March that the House-passed medical marijuana legislation had no chance of passing this session and it\u2019s \u201cdone\u00a0for the year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know my constituents are for it,\u201d Thayer, who owns a whiskey distillery,\u00a0said during a televised panel in January<\/a>. \u201cBut this is a republic, and they elect us to go to Frankfort and make decisions on their behalf\u2014and if they don\u2019t like it, they can take it out on me in the next election.\u201d<\/p>\n Democratic leaders from both chambers, meanwhile, said in January that\u00a0legalizing medical marijuana would be a top legislative priority<\/a>\u00a0for this year\u2019s session. And in the spirit, Senate Minority Floor Leader Morgan McGarvey (D) and two other colleagues filed their own legalization measures in February.<\/p>\n The legislation was dubbed LETT\u2019s Grow, an acronym built of the bills\u2019 main components: Legalizing sales, expunging crimes, treatment through medical use and taxing of adult-use sales.<\/p>\n For his part, Nemes filed an earlier medical legalization bill in 2020 that\u00a0soundly passed the House<\/a>\u00a0but later died in the Senate without a vote amid the early part of the coronavirus pandemic. He\u00a0reintroduced the legislation<\/a>\u00a0for the 2021 session, but it did not advance.<\/p>\n Nemes has continually expressed confidence that the reform legislation would advance through the legislature if only leadership\u00a0had the \u201ccourage\u201d to put it to a vote<\/a>.<\/p>\n While Beshear has said that his focus would be on getting medical cannabis enacted this year, he said he also supported legislation introduced by Rep. Nima Kulkarni (D) in November that would simply prevent people from being incarcerated over marijuana for any use, saying he\u2019s in favor of that policy.<\/p>\n Kulkarni\u2019s bill would\u00a0legalize the possession and personal cultivation of cannabis<\/a>, but it doesn\u2019t provide a regulatory framework for commercial sales.<\/p>\n The governor also voiced support for broader legalization late last year, saying that it\u2019s \u201ctime we joined so many other states in doing the right thing.\u201d He added that Kentucky farmers would be well positioned to\u00a0grow and sell cannabis to other states<\/a>.<\/p>\n South Dakota Marijuana Legalization Initiative Trails In New Poll As Campaign Works To Register Voters<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Kentucky Governor \u2018Actively Considering\u2019 Marijuana Pardons After Biden\u2019s Federal Action, Urging People To Apply For Relief<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The governor of Kentucky said on Thursday that he\u2019s \u201cactively considering\u201d possible marijuana clemency actions the state can take following President Joe Biden\u2019s pardon announcement last week\u2014and he\u2019s directed a review of state-level cannabis cases to inform future steps. In the interim, he\u2019s encouraging people who\u2019ve been convicted over marijuanaContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":57540,"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\/57539"}],"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=57539"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57541,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57539\/revisions\/57541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Kentucky Governor \u2018Actively Considering\u2019 Marijuana Pardons After Biden\u2019s Federal Action, Urging People To Apply For Relief<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"