Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat from Kansas, said that lawmakers should finally pass legislation to allow medical marijuana in the state.
She called for reforms on Wednesday after she let a separate bill on the right-to try become law, without signing it. This measure is designed to provide people suffering from debilitating conditions or those with life-threatening illnesses greater access to experimental medicines.
Kelly, in a press release about SB 250, said that the bill would allow Kansans who suffer from debilitating diseases to choose their own medical treatment. Now I believe it is time that the Legislature legalizes medical marijuana, allowing Kansans with chronic pain, Post Traumatic stress Disorder and Dravet Syndrome to choose the best treatment for them and their doctors.
Earlier this year, legislators considered and ultimately rejected an amendement that would have included cannabis in the Right-to-Try bill. Cindy Holscher said she did not intend to set up a public medical cannabis system.
Mike Thompson, a Republican senator at the time, slammed the concept. The term “medical marijuana” is just a marketing trick, he claimed.
According to a poll taken late last summer, nearly three quarters of Kansans (73%), support medical marijuana. Around six out of ten respondents (61%) also stated that they support legalizing marijuana for adults.
Despite this, legislators have repeatedly thwarted reform attempts.
In 2021 the House of Representatives approved a bill on medical marijuana, yet it was stalled in the Senate. And after numerous hearings on the issue, the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee voted last March to table a limited medical marijuana pilot program bill.
The Senate’s attempt to bring the Medical Cannabis Bill back on the floor of the Senate failed.
That measure was filed about a month after the House rejected a Democratic lawmaker’s amendment to a broader drug scheduling bill that would have removed marijuana entirely from the state’s controlled substances law, effectively legalizing it.
Kelly released a press release after the Senate Committee shelved the medical marijuana limited bill. She urged the public to call their elected representatives and demand they bring the legislation up again for consideration. This did not occur before the end the the legislative session.
Senate President Ty Masterson (R) said in 2023 that was open to a discussion about a limited medical marijuana program. However, in January, his attitude was more sceptical, calling the medical legalization of marijuana a “nonstarter” because it would likely lead to an increase in gang violence and place children at greater risk.
Moreover, he suggested that voters did not understand the medical benefits of marijuana. He said that when people think about medical marijuana, they tend to think of palliative and other types of care.
Masterson has downplayed the popular support for adult cannabis use and said that voters do not fully understand this policy change.
A state panel of legislators voted in October against the recommendation to legalize cannabis for medical purposes by 2025.
Special Committee on Medical Marijuana of the legislature, tasked with examining possible paths for reforming medical cannabis, has said that legalizing medical marijuana is premature. They say lawmakers should wait and see what happens in federal rescheduling efforts and other reform initiatives.
A poll shows that marijuana consumers say they’ll increase their cannabis use to deal with the Trump administration.