Kentucky Medical Marijuana 2017 News Stalls, But Legislative Season Does Not End Until Thanksgiving

If you are following Kentucky marijuana legalization news, it appears that the updates are stalled for now, but drones are on the agenda.

According to Legiscan, both of the Kentucky medical marijuana bills to watch called SB76 and SB57 are stalled as of August, 2017. In fact, as far as progress made, Legiscan only gives both bills a 25 percent completion rating.

Regardless, the bills have made some progress since Kentucky state senator Perry Clark reintroduced the Cannabis Compassion Act in December 2016 and filed as BR409, but a final decision can still be made by the end of 2017.

If no progress is made, it is likely that Perry Clark, like he has in years before, will file another bill for 2018 for Kentucky medical marijuana legalization.

Nevertheless, 2017 still has several months left to make a decision about the Cannabis Compassion Act, and, as previously reported by the Inquisitr, there were several committees that were supposed to meet over the summer to determine if medical marijuana should be legalized.

Currently, SB57 is still in progress with the Health and Welfare committee and SB76 is in the hands of Licensing, Occupations, and Administrative Regulations.

The Kentucky State Senate’s 2017 interim calendar says that decisions made by these committees about medical marijuana could be made any time between June and Thanksgiving.

For example, on the second Friday of each month is when Licensing, Occupations, and Administrative Regulations meets to talk about SB76. As for SB57, the committee for Health and Welfare meets on the third Wednesday of each month from June to November.

News about Kentucky and medical marijuana could crop up after any of these key dates on the legislative calendar, and supporters are patiently waiting to see if they will get the green light.

In the meantime, there have been few positive updates about legalizing medical marijuana in Kentucky in June, July, and August.

For example, Marijuana Times reported on July 19 that Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin has a motion filed against him by medical marijuana patients stating making the medication illegal violates their rights as a patient.

Despite the fact that the General Assembly will not conclude until November, in response to the medical marijuana lawsuit, attorney Barry Dunn stated the following on behalf of Matt Bevin.

“The General Assembly will consider legalizing medicinal marijuana again in the 2018 session. It is solely within the General Assembly’s constitutional powers to determine whether to make medicinal marijuana lawful.”

Supporting the idea that medical marijuana could still be legalized in Kentucky in 2017, a June 21 report from WLKY that stated Kentucky State Senator Morgan McGarvey was pushing to legalize medical marijuana in Kentucky in front of committees that are still in meetings. About the need to legalize medical marijuana in Kentucky, Morgan McGarvey stated the following.

“These are the same people for whom we’re prescribing morphine but we’re afraid to even have a question about medical marijuana.”

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