Will Kentucky be in the final four… of states without medical marijuana?

As more Southern states legalize cannabis for medical use, Kentucky legislative leaders who have blocked this issue for years are running out of excuses. It might have seemed unthinkable when California first legalized medical marijuana in 1996 that this would ever happen in a place like Kentucky. But today it’s not just thinkable – it’s inevitable. That’s why the time for Kentucky lawmakers to legalize medical marijuana is now.

When the current legislative session began, Kentucky was one of only 14 states without safe access to medical marijuana. One of 14 is embarrassing enough. But since the session began, that number dwindled to 13 when Mississippi joined the club of legalized cannabis states in early February.

Even more recently, the South Carolina senate passed a medical marijuana bill to send to their state house, signaling that the Palmetto State will be the next to leave Kentucky and 11 other states in the drug policy dark ages.

As of today, Kentucky is one of 13 states without medical marijuana, along with Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, and for now, South Carolina. Currently, 37 states offer medical marijuana programs, and 18 states plus the District of Columbia have fully legalized cannabis for adult use. Two of Kentucky’s border states are fully legal, Illinois and Virginia, and two more border states, Ohio and Missouri, are likely to join that club soon enough.

Opponents of legalization have long said that nothing would happen in Kentucky until the federal government legalized cannabis. But it already has, in the form of hemp with a limited THC level of 0.3 percent. The fact is that cannabis, in a limited form, is already legal under federal law. It’s just that Republican leaders in Frankfort refuse to allow Kentuckians access to higher THC levels, as 37 other states have done, including Mississippi, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Utah.

Republican leadership’s position that Kentucky won’t move on this issue until Congress acts is becoming more toothless by the day. That’s because a bipartisan effort is moving forward in Washington to legalize cannabis at the federal level. We might not have to wait very long for that to happen. Meanwhile, the remaining hold-out states are falling like dominoes.

Of the 13 states without medical marijuana, South Carolina is likely to legalize in the coming weeks. When it does, North Carolina is likely to follow suit during its legislative session, which begins in May. And three additional states – Wyoming, Idaho, and Nebraska – are likely to have this issue on the ballot in November.

That means the number of non-medical marijuana states could be in the single digits by the end of this year. Whether or not Kentucky is among those last remaining states is entirely in the hands of Republican leadership. The most galling thing about this embarrassing situation is that it doesn’t have to be this way.

The evidence is clear: a vast majority of Kentuckians favor legalizing cannabis in the Bluegrass state – not just a majority of voters or a majority of Democrats, but a majority of Republicans, too. The only people who remain opposed are 35 percent of Republicans, which amounts to 25 percent of Kentuckians, according to recent polling data. That’s who Republican leadership is representing by blocking this – a quarter of Kentuckians against the three-quarters who want this done.

Unfortunately, no bill gets a vote if Republican leadership doesn’t allow it. And at the moment, it remains unclear whether Republican leadership will allow a vote on medical marijuana this legislative session. If they don’t hear from constituents, these Republican leaders might assume that there are no consequences for killing cannabis legalization yet again.

If Republican leadership doesn’t allow a vote to legalize medical marijuana this session, it is unlikely to be heard in next year’s short session, which pushes our next opportunity to 2024, when Kentucky will likely be in the final four… states without medical marijuana.

Jim Higdon is co-founder of Cornbread Hemp and author of The Cornbread Mafia. He lives in Louisville.

NOTE: As of Monday, February 21, the South Carolina medical marijuana bill has passed the Senate, received the first reading in the House, and has now been posted to committee. Status update here: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/billsearch.php?billnumbers=150&session=124&summary=B&headerfooter=1