Kansas Lawmakers Decline To Recommend Legalizing Medical Marijuana In 2025, Instead Saying They Should Wait To See Other States’ And Feds’ Actions

A Kansas legislative panel voted against a recommendation that lawmakers legalize medical cannabis in 2025, instead saying the state should wait to see what comes of marijuana proposals going before voters in Nebraska and Florida next month, as well as tracking what happens with federal rescheduling, before deciding on a path forward.

The legislature’s Special Committee on Medical Marijuana met for a second hearing on Monday as part of their consideration of possible pathways for medical cannabis reform, taking testimony from supporters and opponents on the issue. That also included several witnesses who suggested that federal rescheduling would not necessarily affect the status quo in Kansas.

At the hearing, members of the panel took testimony from representatives of state agencies, law enforcement groups, stakeholders and the general public on the best path forward for reform. Once that concluded, the committee considered various motions on next steps.

While a motion carried to compile a report on the information members received during the last two hearings and provide that to the legislature for the next session, a separate proposal that would’ve also broadly urged action on medical cannabis legislation failed.

The report that lawmakers will receive should also account for cannabis development in Nebraska and Florida, where voters are set to decided on medical and recreational marijuana legalization ballot proposals, respectively. It will also cover the Biden administration’s progress toward federally rescheduling cannabis.

Representatives of the state attorney general’s office, Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), ACLU, Kansas Bankers Association (KBA), Office of the State Bank Commissioner of Kansas (OSBC), Marijuana Policy Project and more participated in the Kansas hearing on Monday.

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One of the more notable comments during Monday’s hearing came from OSBC, which testified that “we do not anticipate Kansas banks will be substantially affected” if the state moves forward with legalization. That’s because the agency already follows federal guidance for banks it oversees that have branches in other states that have enacted the reform and work with cannabis businesses in those markets.

Even so, it acknowledged that financial institutions have been “less willing to open accounts with cash-intensive businesses since they must follow enhanced due diligence when opening new accounts and closely monitor all transactions to ensure that they are legitimate, consistent with previous transactions, and have not deviated from the customer’s established business plan.”

“Marijuana banking has, and will continue, to be a difficult industry for Kansas banks to do business with for as long as marijuana is illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA),” OSBC General Counsel Brock Roehler said.

KBA’s vice president, Kelly VanZwoll, also said that it acknowledges that “the growing number of our surrounding states that allow its sale and use raises practical issues that should be addressed.”

The association said it isn’t taking a “formal stance on legalizing marijuana,” but it is nonetheless encouraging federal agencies to “provide greater legal clarity to banks operating in and around states where marijuana has been legalized for medical or recreational use.” KBA also supports bipartisan congressional legislation to protect banks that work with state-legal cannabis businesses.

The Kansas attorney general’s office, meanwhile, focused much of its testimony on the Biden administration’s proposal to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the CSA.

It said that the “most obvious and predictable impact of a rescheduling would come from the fact that Schedule III substances have ‘a currently accepted medical use in treatment,’ and thus may be dispensed by prescription under federal law.”

However, “it would remain illegal to dispense marijuana in Kansas,” the office said. Rescheduling “may have some impact on state regulations.”

“To comply with or enforce federal law, Kansas agencies may incorporate federal law into their own regulations. This practice is called adoption by reference,” it said. “The federal rescheduling of marijuana could engender pressure on Kansas to change its laws to correspond to federal provisions.”

“This office’s concerns regarding legalization under state law, including the increased risk of driving under the influence and the numerous issues that have arisen in neighboring states post-legalization, were captured in that testimony and need not repeated here,” it said.

As has been the case over recent sessions, other Kansas law enforcement officials took an opposing position on the cannabis reform issue.

KBI, for example, said the agency “believes that legalization of marijuana, whether it be for medical or recreational purposes would be a mistake that will cause increased criminal behavior, increased mental illness and psychoses in our young adults, and will make our citizens less safe and less healthy.”

“Kansas should learn from the experience of California, Colorado, Oregon and others that our crime problems will increase if we allow legalization of any sort,” the agency’s director testified. “The KBI remains vigilant in the battle against illegal narcotics as on a daily basis in our investigations and laboratory examinations, we witness the damage they cause.”

KBI also noted the Biden administration’s cannabis rescheduling effort, commenting that even if marijuana is moved to Schedule III, “it cannot be used recreationally in food, dietary supplements, tobacco products, or cosmetics” and, therefore, “any proposed state legalization would still run afoul of federal law.”

On the advocacy end, MPP’s Kevin Caldwell said in his written testimony that “Kansas should join the vast majority of states and establish a well-regulated, compassionate medical cannabis program.”

“People who could benefit from medical cannabis should not have to wait—and in some cases cannot wait—for the right to use it legally,” he said. “If medical cannabis can provide relief to those suffering from terrible illnesses like cancer and multiple sclerosis, it is unconscionable to criminalize them for using it. Regulating the cultivation and sale of medical cannabis would ensure patients have the legal, safe, and reliable access to medical cannabis they deserve.”

Caldwell also responded to law enforcement arguments against the prospect of medical cannabis legalization, noting that the “same concerns have been voiced in every state that has implemented medical cannabis laws, whether the programs were approved legislatively or via ballot initiative.”

“These concerns have not materialized in the states that have implemented well-regulated programs,” he said. “While it is always important to get feedback from law enforcement, in this case their compatriots in other states have been able to continue to effectively protect and serve their communities while at the same time permitting patients with debilitating conditions access to safe, laboratory-tested cannabis products.”

The Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) also said that “Kansas prohibition is simply bad public policy and a waste of taxpayer dollars.”

“In this moment, I believe Kansas lawmakers must jump on the opportunity to modernize this state and make medical marijuana available to the thousands of Kansans who need it,” LEAP’s Barry Grissom, who previously served as the U.S. attorney for the District of Kansas, said. “The time for better public policy is now.”

“The legislature has a few proposals to consider allowing marijuana to be regulated equitably and begin to unravel the untold harm that criminalization has wrought,” he said. “This is the moment of opportunity to better utilize our state’s resources, support local businesses, and alleviate suffering through better public policy in Kansas.”

Rashane Hamby, director of policy and research at the ACLU of Kansas, testified in support of cannabis reform, stating that there’s an “urgent need for Kansas to adopt a more just and rational approach to cannabis policy—one that recognizes the medical value of cannabis and addresses the profound harm caused by its continued criminalization.”

“Legalizing medical cannabis and decriminalizing possession are essential steps to addressing public health needs, protecting individual rights, and promoting racial justice in our state,” Hambysaid. “By legalizing medical cannabis, Kansas can help reduce its reliance on opioids and provide a safer alternative for patients in need.”

Beyond legalizing marijuana for medical use, the state ACLU representative said “Kansas must also decriminalize cannabis possession to address the broader harms caused by prohibition.”

“Decriminalizing cannabis and legalizing its medical use is not only the right thing to do from a moral and ethical standpoint—it is also a practical solution that will improve public health, reduce racial disparities, and generate economic benefits for the state,” she said. “The ACLU of Kansas strongly encourages the legislature to listen to the will of the people and join the 38 other states that have legalized medical cannabis.”

The prohibitionist group Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) also spoke to the issue o Monday, with a representative telling lawmakers that medical cannabis legalization “only leads to one end: full recreational marijuana legalization.”

“This industry wants a marijuana monopoly that will only serve to damage public health and safety,” SAM’s Jordon Davidson said. “I urge you to reject legalization in any form and keep the marijuana industry out of The Sunflower State.”

The meeting came about a week after the special committee held an initial hearing on the issue during the interim session, with plans to advance a reform proposal that’s informed by the expert testimony. The legislature is set to reconvene for the normal session in January.

Lawmakers have made several previous attempts to legalize medical marijuana without success, however. The House did pass a medical cannabis bill in 2021, but it stalled out in the Senate. And after numerous hearings on the issue, the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee voted to table a limited medical marijuana pilot program bill in March.

An effort to revive the medical cannabis bill on the Senate floor fell short in April.

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.

After the Senate committee shelved the limited medical marijuana bill, Gov. Laura Kelly (D) issued a statement urging the public to contact their representatives to demand that they take the legislation back up for action, but that did not happen before the end of the legislative session.

Senate President Ty Masterson (R) said late last year he was open to a discussion about a limited medical marijuana program. But in January, he appeared less open to the idea, calling medical legalization a “nonstarter” and suggesting the policy change could lead to a surge in “gang activity” and put kids at risk.

He also suggested voters didn’t understand medical marijuana. “I think what people see when they think of medical, they’re thinking of, you know, palliative care and things like that,” Masterson said.

Masterson, who also helped kill the House-passed medical marijuana bill in 2021, has downplayed popular support for broader adult-use cannabis legalization, suggesting voters don’t understand the policy change.

“If you look at that question, I think most people would answer yes, but they don’t know what they’re actually saying yes to,” the Senate president said.

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A recent survey from the Midwest Newsroom and Emerson College Polling found that 56 percent of Kansas voters support broadly legalizing cannabis for recreational use, and 72 percent are in favor of allowing access to medical marijuana.

A separate Kansas Speaks poll from last fall found that 67 percent of Kansans, including a majority of Republicans, support legalizing cannabis for all adults 21 and older.

Meanwhile, in her 2023 State of the State address, the governor said that there’s a “commonsense way to improve health care here in Kansas—and that’s to finally legalize medical marijuana.”

The governor also said in 2021 that she would be “enlisting the efforts of the people of Kansas who really want this” to pressure their lawmakers to get the reform enacted.

Also in 2022, then-House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer (D) and Assistant Minority Leader Jason Probst (D) said they wanted to let voters decide on legalizing medical and adult-use marijuana in the state.

The governor, for her part, previously pushed a separate proposal that would legalize medical cannabis and use the resulting revenue to support Medicaid expansion, with Rep. Brandon Woodard (D) filing the measure on the governor’s behalf.

Following President Joe Biden’s announcement in 2022 on pardoning people who’ve committed federal marijuana possession offenses and imploring governors to follow suit, Kelly said that her administration is “focused on legalizing medical marijuana so that Kansans with severe illnesses no longer have to suffer.

Kelly added that they will “continue to consider all clemency and pardon requests based on a complete and thorough review of the individual cases.”

The governor also said in 2020 that while she wouldn’t personally advocate for adult-use legalization, she wouldn’t rule out signing the reform into law if a reform bill arrived on her desk.

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Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.