{"id":86133,"date":"2026-06-09T09:20:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T17:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2026\/06\/09\/top-kentucky-gop-lawmaker-wants-state-officials-prosecuted-for-abiding-by-governors-medical-marijuana-expansion-order\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T19:45:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T03:45:55","slug":"top-kentucky-gop-lawmaker-wants-state-officials-prosecuted-for-abiding-by-governors-medical-marijuana-expansion-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2026\/06\/09\/top-kentucky-gop-lawmaker-wants-state-officials-prosecuted-for-abiding-by-governors-medical-marijuana-expansion-order\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Kentucky GOP Lawmaker Wants State Officials Prosecuted For Abiding By Governor\u2019s Medical Marijuana Expansion Order"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cAny organization, any licensee, that participates in this unlawful expansion should be prosecuted.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Sarah Ladd, Kentucky Lantern<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kentucky\u2019s House Majority Whip Jason Nemes (R) asked Attorney General Russell Coleman (R) to help ensure agencies \u201cnot cooperate\u201d with Gov. Andy Beshear\u2019s (D) expansion of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana recommendations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nemes, a Louisville Republican, made the comments Tuesday morning during the Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary.<\/p>\n

He called Beshear\u2019s June 2 executive order, which added several conditions to the state\u2019s list of approved conditions for medical marijuana, an \u201cunlawful expansion of conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAny organization, any licensee, that participates in this unlawful expansion should be prosecuted,\u201d Nemes said during Tuesday\u2019s meeting. \u201cThis is not the way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said: \u201cThe General Assembly does not approve of\u201d the expansion.<\/p>\n

Scottie Ellis, a spokeswoman for Beshear, said \u201cThe governor\u2019s action only clarifies the law so people suffering with serious conditions like the chronic pain associated with terminal illness or sickle cell anemia know that they qualify under the existing statute.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRep. Nemes\u2019s comments do the opposite and cause more confusion and fear among Kentuckians,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cIt\u2019s ultimately up to an individual\u2019s doctor or APRN to make the decision of whether a person has a qualifying condition. The Governor\u2019s action helps doctors and nurses better understand the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2023, the legislature legalized medical marijuana for Kentuckians suffering from chronic illnesses including \u200bany type or form of cancer, chronic or severe pain, epilepsy or other intractable seizure disorder; multiple sclerosis, muscle spasms, or spasticity; chronic nausea or cyclical vomiting syndrome; or post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).<\/p>\n

In early June, Beshear said the law suffered from a \u201clack of clarity.\u201d<\/p>\n

He signed an executive order directing the Office of Medical Cannabis to issue an emergency regulation clarifying that Kentuckians have access to medical cannabis if they have these additional conditions: Terminal illness, sickle cell anemia, ALS, Parkinson\u2019s disease, HIV, AIDS, Huntington\u2019s disease, muscular dystrophy, wasting syndrome, Crohn\u2019s disease, ulcerative colitis, neuropathies, severe arthritis, fibromyalgia and glaucoma.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say to the governor, and to everyone who supports this: You are jeopardizing the program in its entirety because this General Assembly is not playing around when we say we want the tightest medical marijuana program in the country,\u201d Nemes said.<\/p>\n

Some lawmakers want to add more conditions, Nemes said, and \u201csome of us don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lawful process to do that. The governor\u2026skirted that law after he asked us to do it, and we said no,\u201d he said in his comments to Coleman. \u201cSo I\u2019m asking you, as our chief law enforcement officer, to do all that you can do to make sure that the law is followed, and that those who break the law, even under the understanding that they might be following an unlawful executive order, are prosecuted and they lose their license.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coleman did not directly address the request. He responded with, \u201cAs always, Representative Nemes, appreciate the input.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the second time this week Republicans in the General Assembly have resorted to threats and intimidation against suffering or even dying Kentuckians while trying to reverse an action by the Governor,\u201d Ellis, Beshear\u2019s spokesperson, also said in a statement. \u201cFrom lowering the gas tax to ease soaring prices at the pump to offering a safe alternative for pain relief for patients with terminal illnesses, ALS and more, Gov. Beshear\u2019s steps are focused on helping Kentuckians, and they are supported by the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Kentucky Lantern.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Top Kentucky GOP Lawmaker Wants State Officials Prosecuted For Abiding By Governor\u2019s Medical Marijuana Expansion Order<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Top Kentucky GOP Lawmaker Wants State Officials Prosecuted For Abiding By Governor\u2019s Medical Marijuana Expansion Order<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAny organization, any licensee, that participates in this unlawful expansion should be prosecuted.\u201d By Sarah Ladd, Kentucky Lantern Kentucky\u2019s House Majority Whip Jason Nemes (R) asked Attorney General Russell Coleman (R) to help ensure agencies \u201cnot cooperate\u201d with Gov. Andy Beshear\u2019s (D) expansion of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana recommendations.Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86133"}],"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\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86134,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86133\/revisions\/86134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}