Medical marijuana bill is ‘done’ in Kentucky Senate, GOP floor leader says
Support for medical marijuana has burned out in the Kentucky Senate this year, at least according to one member of Senate Republican leadership.
Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer told the Herald-Leader on Thursday night that he believes it’s safe to say House Bill 136, which would legalize certain forms of medical marijuana in Kentucky, is “done for the year.”
“I have said all along I wouldn’t stand in its way if we had the votes, but we do not have the votes in the Senate,” Thayer, R-Georgetown, said.
Thayer, who does not personally support the legislation, did not offer comment on the whip count among the GOP caucus or when he came to understand that the bill was dead in the Senate.
Senate Majority Whip Mike Wilson, R-Bowling Green, did not comment on the level of caucus support for the measure on Thursday morning.
Sponsor Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, did not respond to Thayer’s comment but said that he was “still trying to get senators to support HB 136.”
The bill easily cleared the Republican-dominated House, 59-34. Just over half, 35 of 68, of House GOP members voted for the measure. All but one Democrat supported it.
In 2020, a similar bill from Nemes did not get a vote in the Senate after House passage.
Nemes has repeatedly emphasized the “narrow” and conservative nature of his bill.
Key regulations that make the bill more “narrow” than some other states that have legalized medical marijuana include provisions banning the smoking of marijuana and growing it yourself; a clause that bars “cross-pollination” between farmers, processors, dispensers and safety testers; as well as checks that ensure a physician-patient relationship is “bonafide,” per Nemes.
Nemes said earlier that he believes the bill has popular support, a perspective backed up by some recent polling.
A Gallup poll from late last year recorded U.S. support for marijuana legalization at 68%. A 2020 USA Today poll also reported that 59% of Kentuckians supported the measure.
Citizen advocates for the bill, as well as lawmakers, have described how marijuana used in a medicinal context can help them
The National Institutes of Health states that medical marijuana “may be helpful” for certain conditions like epilepsy and nausea induced by cancer treatments,among others.
Sen. Reggie Thomas, D-Lexington, said on Thursday that he could not share any whip count within the Senate’s eight-member Democratic caucus on the bill.
Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, told the Courier-Journal earlier this week that while he’s seen some research showing its positive effects, he ultimately did not support legalizing medical marijuana because he has not seen “definitive” proof of its efficacy. He also told the newspaper that while he opposes the bill he would not stand in its way if it received a majority of GOP caucus support.
Advocates had found reason to hope that efforts to legalize medical marijuana could succeed when Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Whitney Westerfield, R-Crofton, threw his support behind the bill. The bill did not come before Westerfield’s committee during a lengthy meeting on Thursday.
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 7:25 PM.
