In January 2025, Senate Bill 47 — better known as the legalized production, dispensing and consuming of medical marijuana — will be legal in the Bluegrass.
During Monday night’s Trigg County Fiscal Court meeting, Judge-Executive Stan Humphries cleared the haze — noting he and magistrates must make a choice by August on the community’s next course of action.
1) They can simply do nothing, and let Kentucky’s Revised Statutes take effect.
2) They can draft and ratify an ordinance, prohibiting the buying, selling and cultivating of medical marijuana in Trigg County.
3) They can draft and ratify an ordinance, allowing for the Commonwealth’s measures be put to public referendum vote this November.
Or 4) they can draft and ratify an ordinance, wholly supporting medical marijuana and its connected associations.
Humphries and County Attorney Randy Braboy both advised magistrates to begin doing research and gathering constituent applause or concerns. The two have recently taken part in a couple of online courses discussing the ins-and-outs of medical marijuana — only breaching the surface of possibility — and the public discourse is expected to ramp up leading into the winter holidays.
Braboy called Kentucky’s new laws “some of the strictest” in the 30-plus states with accessible medical cannabis, and noted that medical cards will be administered by licensed physicians only, prescribing THC-related products for patients with one, or more, sickness types:
1. Any type or form of cancer regardless of stage;
2. Chronic, severe, intractable, or debilitating pain;
3. Epilepsy or any other intractable seizure disorder;
4. Multiple sclerosis, muscle spasms, or spasticity;
5. Chronic nausea or cyclical vomiting syndrome that has proven resistant to other conventional medical treatments; and
6. Post-traumatic stress disorder.
And while the federal criminal classification of marijuana has recently been lowered by the Department of Justice, Humphries said it still isn’t clear how local businesses might, or might not, change any potential “zero tolerance” policies — or how law enforcement might manage DUIs.
Humphries also noted that, much like alcohol beverage control, city and county laws must be defined in their proper jurisdictions.
It’s worth noting that when Governor Andy Beshear signed the bipartisan House Bill 47 into law, it came with four caveats:
— Patients would have access to medical providers and treatment for qualifying conditions.
— Medical products would be contaminant-free and labeled accurately to inform patients and caregivers.
— Cannabis will be kept away from children and those who are not legally allowed to possess and consume it.
— And cannabis businesses would operate safely and responsibly, under the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
