The post Kentucky Will Discuss Medical Marijuana in 2018 appeared first on High Times.
Kentucky lawmakers are once again working to legalize a comprehensive medical marijuana program. Although this action has been met with little to no enthusiasm over the past few years, there is hope now that opposing forces may be more apt to side with this reform as a way to combat the apocalyptic residue of the state’s opioid epidemic.
Earlier this week, State Representatives John Sims and Alan Gentry introduced a piece of legislation (House Bill 166) aimed at giving patients the freedom to use marijuana for a variety of medical conditions. Lawmakers are hoping to convince the majority of the Kentucky House that giving the people access to cannabis will make them less susceptible to the grips of opioids. To help sell their position, they intend to share some of the latest research from the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine that suggests opioid use is down 25 percent in states with similar laws.
Kentucky has experienced its fair share of opioid-related tragedy…and it’s only getting worse. The latest data indicates that the Bluegrass state had more than 1,400 drug overdose deaths in 2016. This represents an almost a 40 percent increase in less than five years.
Secretary of State Is Leading the Calvary
A large part of the fight to bring Kentucky out of the pits of total prohibition is being led by Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. She and other advocates were in Frankfort this week to promote the latest offering in the realm of medical marijuana legislation. The objective is to educate the General Assembly in such a way that they begin to lose the age-old stigmas associated with the cannabis