Beshear says he’ll pursue options on medical marijuana, chides lawmakers for inaction
Expressing impatience with the Kentucky legislature’s continued inaction on the legalization of medical marijuana, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday said he will take what steps he can take on his own.
“Its time has come and it can give some ailing Kentuckians relief,” Beshear said at a news conference.
Thirty-seven states now have a regulated medical marijuana system to help people with a variety of health problems, such as Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), cancer, epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder, Beshear said. A majority of Kentuckians in opinion polls say they wish to join those states, the governor said.
“Would I have preferred if the legislature had passed it?” Beshear asked. “Yes. But they didn’t.”
“If they are not going to take action — not even give it a committee hearing in the Senate — then I believe it’s my obligation to see what’s possible given the will of the people and their desire to move forward on this,” he said. “It’s time to certainly move the conversation forward.”
Specifically, Beshear said he’s asking his general counsel what executive actions he can take on the subject of medical marijuana without legislative approval.
Beshear said he’s also appointing a Governor’s Medical Cannabis Advisory Team that will travel the state to hear from Kentuckians on the subject. And he promoted an email account (GovMedicalCannabisAdvisoryTeam@ky.gov) to collect messages from people who cannot attend his team’s public hearings.
In the legislative session that ended last week, House Bill 136, to legalize the medical use of marijuana in a state-regulated and non-smokeable form, died in the Senate after passing 59-to-34 in the House. Opponents said they feared it would be a slippery slope that led to the legalization of recreational marijuana.
A similar bill also died in the Senate in 2020 after passing the House.
As a compromise gesture, lawmakers this year approved House Bill 604, providing $2 million to create a cannabis research center at the University of Kentucky.
The Republican-dominated legislature typically has chafed at Beshear’s executive orders, passing new laws to restrict his use of them.
Later Thursday, Senate President Robert Stivers said Beshear “simply can’t legalize medical marijuana by executive order; you can’t supersede a statue by executive order because it’s a constitutional separation of powers violation.”
“The General Assembly has initiated an effort to conduct additional research on medical marijuana through the passage of HB 604 during this past legislative session,” said Stivers, R-Manchester. “The governor may speak in favor of medical marijuana, but he still has not signed HB 604 that has been sitting on his desk since April 14.”
Furthermore, Stivers said, “cannabis remains a Schedule I drug and substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act,” and under state law, the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services can’t reschedule a controlled substance to a less restrictive category ahead of the federal government making such a change.
Asked on Thursday if he approved the legalization of recreational marijuana, Beshear said he is not prepared to advocate “that step at the moment,” although he does favor “decriminalization” of marijuana possession.
“Nobody needs to go to jail, ultimately causing them loss of job, being hard on their family, for possession of marijuana,” Beshear said. “And it is very rare that it happens right now. But I think the fact that it continues to happen shows that we’re a little outdated.”
This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 1:52 PM.
