It comes after one of medical marijuana’s biggest opponents in the state legislature says there could be a narrow path to making it available for certain conditions.
State Rep. Buddy Wheatley, who represents the northeast corner of Kenton County, is one of the sponsors of House Bill 136. The bill would legalize marijuana to be prescribed in certain cases.
“The evidence seems to be coming in very strong that there are certain conditions, and that’s important too, certain conditions that medical marijuana could be very helpful,” Wheatley said.
For years, medical marijuana has had a big hurdle in the legislature; Senate President Robert Stivers from southern Kentucky has been against it. But Stivers has gone on the record and said there is a “narrow path forward” for medical marijuana.
“I think that was a very positive statement that he mentioned. We’ve been working on Sen. Stivers for a very long time. I see that he is open to it now, even though it is a very limited scope,” Jaime Montalvo with Kentuckians for Medicinal Marijuana said.
Montalvo has been working for several years to make medical marijuana available to Kentuckians. He’s quick to point out this is a very “narrow” bill.
“They’re not for everybody to have fun out on the street. House Bill 136 and Senate Bill 107 are about patients who have quality-of-life issues and need an alternative to the pharmaceuticals they have right now,” Montalvo said.
Forty-four of the state’s 100 representatives have sponsored House Bill 136 and nearly a third of the senators have sponsored Senate Bill 107, the companion bill to House Bill 136.
“There is strong support and there is strong support in the House especially where I’m most familiar and the Senate…our local senators from Northern Kentucky and the general, all the rest of the senators and the General Assembly, it is favorable overall,” Wheatley said.
If it gets approval, Kentucky’s medical marijuana program would start Jan. 1, 2021.
