Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear released a plan to make medicinal cannabis available to medical patients, saying that lawmakers have failed to make progress on the issue.
In March, the Kentucky House of Representatives passed House Bill 136, a bill that would have legalized the medicinal use of cannabis for certain medical conditions and created a regulatory framework for commercial cannabis production and sales.
Beshear said that he has asked his general counsel for information on what executive actions can be taken to move the medical cannabis process along without the approval of lawmakers.
“I want to be clear: I am for medical cannabis,” Beshear said.
“Nobody needs to go to jail, ultimately causing them loss of job, being hard on their family, for possession of marijuana,” Beshear said.
“The General Assembly has initiated an effort to conduct additional research on medical marijuana through the passage of HB 604 during this past legislative session,” he wrote.
“And I believe that we have an opportunity to set up the right regulatory framework where we don’t see abuse.