Thomas Tony Vance
The 2013 Assembly will reconvene on Monday February 4. Two of the bills they are considering are the Medical Marijuana Bill and the Hemp bill.
There are 18 states and the District of Columbia that currently have medical marijuana laws in place. Joining them with legislation pending are13 more, Kentucky of course, Alabama, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Vermont. As anyone can see the rush is on. Our farmers are chomping at the bit to get started.
This brings to mind two questions. What do we know about this legislation that the 18 States that have approved it might have missed, that says we shouldn’t approve the medical marijuana and hemp bills?
What exactly is keeping our legislators from allowing our citizens to grab their share of a market estimated to be in the tens of billions of dollars?
As far as full legalization goes, Washington State and Colorado have this. Seeking to join them with pending legislation are Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. Most of the states with medical bills and all with full legalization include some type of industrial hemp legislation.
I think it’s time for our legislators to be politically brave and forward thinking and go for full legalization. The Federal Government does not have the last word on this according to the Controlled Substances Act. If it did, it would have acted by now. Kentucky has the reputation for growing the best marijuana in the country and we should embrace our history. It’s as though the California gold rush is just beginning and we are already at Sutters Mill but we will not allow ourselves to pan for gold while everybody else is!
If you support allowing Kentucky’s citizens to enjoy the benefits of medical and industrial marijuana then beginning Monday and all thru the session till it ends in March call the Legislative hotline at 1-800-372-7181 and leave a message for all the legislators to support and pass Sb11 the Medical Marijuana bill and HB50 the Hemp/Industrial Marijuana bill. The people there are very nice and will help you with your message. You can call continually as often as you want. Your fellow citizens realize the importance of these bills passing, not only to help our sick and disabled citizens but also to help Kentucky’s economic recovery. Now is the time to act. Our State is in need of our help! Let us move ourselves forward into the 21st Century on this issue.
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