Medical marijuana could be on the docket during this year’s legislative session. House Speaker Greg Stumbo announced his intent to file a bill Tuesday that would permit the smoking of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
While state lawmakers approved a measure allowing research on cannabidiol last year and attitudes toward the plant appear to be softening, a medical marijuana bill could meet with more resistance.
"Somebody needs to show me something that independently says that there is a medicinal or therapeutic value to marijuana," Senate President Robert Stivers says, citing the American Medical Association and the New England Journal of Medicine as sources he would trust.
But Stumbo tells WUKY reliable evidence is growing, and more and more Kentucky families are testifying to the drug's effectiveness in treating a number of disorders.
"The real question should be: What can it hurt?" the Floyd County Democrat says. "If it can help somebody and doesn't hurt anybody, then shouldn't we be open-minded and allow it to go forward?"
The speaker says his bill would include rigorous oversight mechanisms to guard against prescription abuse.
