Kansas Governor Says It’s Time For Lawmakers To ‘Finally Legalize Medical Marijuana’

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) says it’s time for lawmakers in the state to finally legalize medical marijuana.

The governor called for the reform on Wednesday, as she allowed a separate right-to-try bill to become law without her signature. That measure is intended to give people with debilitating or life-threatening conditions broader access to experimental medications.

“This bill gives Kansans with debilitating disease the option to make choices about their medical care,” Kelly said in a statement about the bill, SB 250. “Now I think it’s time for the Legislature to finally legalize medical Marijuana, giving the Kansans suffering from chronic pain or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and children suffering with Dravet’s Syndrome (epilepsy) the choice of the treatment they and their doctors determine best suits their needs.”

Notably, lawmakers earlier this year considered but ultimately rejected an amendment that would have added cannabis to the right-to-try bill. The lawmaker behind that effort, Sen. Cindy Holscher (D), said her intention was not to create a public medical marijuana system, however.

Sen. Mike Thompson (R) disparaged the idea at the time. “The term medical cannabis is nothing but a marketing ploy,” he said.

Polling from late last year shows that nearly three quarters (73 percent) of Kansans support legalizing medical marijuana. About six in 10 (61 percent) respondents also said they supported legalizing cannabis for broader adult use.

Legislators have nevertheless repeatedly shot down reform efforts.

The House of Representatives passed a medical cannabis bill in 2021, for example, but it stalled out 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.

A later effort to revive the medical cannabis bill on the Senate floor ultimately fell short.

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, Kelly 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 in 2023 that was open to a discussion about a limited medical marijuana program. But in January, he appeared less welcoming to the idea, calling medical legalization a “nonstarter,” suggesting the policy change would 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,” he said.

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

This past October, meanwhile, a state legislative panel voted against a recommendation that lawmakers legalize medical cannabis in 2025.

The legislature’s Special Committee on Medical Marijuana, charged with consideration of possible pathways for medical cannabis reform, said legalizing medical marijuana was premature and that lawmakers should first wait to see how federal rescheduling and other reform efforts unfold.

Marijuana Consumers Say They’ll Increase Their Cannabis Use To Deal With The Trump Administration, Poll Shows

The post Kansas Governor Says It’s Time For Lawmakers To ‘Finally Legalize Medical Marijuana’ appeared first on Marijuana Moment.