Kansas has always remained against the idea of legalizing marijuana, but things may be changing as Kansas lawmakers took a first step this week towards advancing a medical marijuana bill.
A special committee on Wednesday recommended the Legislature look to Ohio, where medical use is legal, as a guide.
Lawmakers also called for considering a provision to allow residents from other states where medical marijuana is legal to use the product in Kansas if they have permission from the state where they live.
“This thing is going to go-go-go eventually, and we all need to kind of be at the table and make it a good piece of legislation to help people,” Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, a Wichita Democrat, remarked.
Three of the four states bordering Kansas (Colorado, Oklahoma and Missouri) allow some form of medical use. Missouri voters gave their approval in November 2018, and it should be available early next year.
R.E. “Tuck” Duncan, a lobbyist for the Kansas Cannabis Industry Association, said, “We’re not necessarily reinventing the wheel, which means we can move faster.”
The Kansas Medical Society, a physicians group, unfortunately is not on board. “Until it’s proven medically effective, we don’t support legislating what can be prescribed in that arena,” Rachelle Colombo, the society’s director of government affairs, said.
