The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce recently announced it supports de-felonizing drug possession during the upcoming legislative session. Cool, I’m down with that. Several Republicans and many Democrats are also down with that. Same goes for legalizing marijuana. Certainly, there is some divide over medical or recreational but here’s what I think…
Why pretend that legalizing it for medical purposes will stop recreational use or somehow prevent it? A wide range of people use cannabis, from grandmothers to the adult children of these same lawmakers. Hell, truth be told, some of those lawmakers are somewhere toking up on the weekend and voting against it for whatever unknown or antiquated reason.
I’m surprised our large industries like Churchill Downs or any of the many adult beverage companies have not made a stronger push for the state to do more to just make this herb — with its many health and wellness benefits — readily available. For these companies, their bottom lines would grow.
What is the hold up? Fucking Alabama and Arkansas have legal medical. So here’s Kentucky, behind the curve once again.
It’s just so frustrating and I’m really wondering what it might take for these “lawmakers” to just flip the switch and to stop stringing this issue along.
The financial positives for the state alone should make all Kentuckians question the motives of these lawmakers who continue to delay on this topic.
Yes, there are bills that come up, but how many times have we seen these bills come and go with no action?
Will it take smokers in Kentucky to blatantly break the rickety old rules by smoking in the streets and clearing the White Castles of their sliders to finally just get a real bit of traction on this issue?
Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, is once again building a bill to legalize medical marijuana that he’ll introduce when the General Assembly returns in January. How it’s currently written, according to reporting in the Courier Journal, would make it a strict and limited bill that would keep the treatments restricted to only four medical needs — chronic pain, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and nausea.
Last year, a similar bill from Nemes easily passed through the House, but was not considered in the Senate.
The Democratic minority supported it, but Republican in-fighting is holding up progress.
How these morons keep winning seats is beyond me.
I’d like a real list of the reasons why the legalization of marijuana hasn’t happened yet.
When I read the news about the machinations surrounding any and every marijuana bill, I envision the shuffling of old men who won’t see the future somehow making plans for that future where the rest of us have to make sense of their bullshit. I’m not sure where I have to go with this, I just want to reiterate that the continued lag for Kentucky to do something moderately “of the modern era” is tiresome. Marijuana has been proven time and time again to have beneficial effects on many illnesses. Those incarcerated for marijuana crimes are taking up space that could house real criminals — that is, if the carceral state is your bag. A lot of people could get their lives back if we took away the penalty for marijuana and other drug possession charges. And, overall, not legalizing marijuana is just dumb. There is no other way to say it. It’s ignoring that this is a state that is desperate for resources and revenue.
And Why? Religion? I doubt that.
Kids? Were any of these people ever young? I’m not advocating for young people to take up marijuana, at all. I’m just saying, we have to be honest and stop pretending that many kids haven’t tried it. Most of us did when we were kids. So prevention could be more effective in a legal and regulated system, I’d think.
There really is little else to say.
Kentucky lawmakers, just legalize it already.
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