A Kentucky lawmaker has filed a bill this week to end all penalties for adults over 21 who possess and use recreational marijuana. This includes arrest. Adults would be allowed to grow up to a few cannabis plants for their own personal use. Commercial sales would be prohibited.
Rep. Nima Kulikarni (D) introduced HB 72 on Tuesday. Last year, she introduced a similar measure which would have let voters decide if they wanted to legalize possession, use and home cultivation. The lawmaker had previously introduced a similar noncommercial legalization measure in the 2022 legislative sessions.
Kulkarni stated a year earlier that “for decades, the failed, irrational War on Drugs” has led to millions of Americans being arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned for nonviolent, low-level drug offenses.
The new proposal allows adults to possess up an ounce (plant form) of marijuana or cannabinoids, derived from marijuana or hemp, or products that contain less than 1,000 milligrams of delta-8 or delta-9 THC.
Possession of more than the personal use limit is a misdemeanor. It can result in up to 45-days jail plus monetary penalties.
The newly introduced legislation will not only end penalties for possession and cultivation of marijuana that is not commercial, but it will also prohibit the use of marijuana as a reason to revoke probation or parole, or to conditional release.
The trafficking penalties would apply to those who have more than their personal use amount and less than 8 ounces. This would be a class A misdemeanor for the first offense, and a class D felony for subsequent offenses. For larger amounts, the penalties are higher.
The proposal makes it a crime to grow more than five cannabis plants. This would become a class C felony for the second offense and beyond.
This measure also eliminates penalties for the use, manufacturing and delivery of paraphernalia relating to cannabis. However, it remains illegal to advertise paraphernalia on newspapers, magazines, and other publications.
The bill will impose civil penalties on people who grow marijuana in excess of the 1 ounce limit. It would be $1,000 per plant with “foliation that exceeds personal use quantities of cannabis”, and $3.50 per gram that is detached from the plant.
HB 72 would allow for the expungement of criminal charges or convictions resulting from conduct that was made legal by the bill. The Administrative Office of the Courts is responsible for determining the process for identifying and expunging the convictions. If prosecutors do not object, the courts must order that the judgments be vacated within 200 days of the bill’s passing.
Those whose records had not been cleared within one year of the law’s implementation could file a petition with the court. AOC will also have to submit a report by December 1, 2020, “which provides data by county regarding the number of eligible convictions, the number of objections filed before the court and the amount of expungements that were granted”.
The bill was initially assigned to the Kentucky House Committee on Committees. According to the page of the bill on the state legislative website, no forms for local mandates or corrections impact have been filed yet.
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The state is currently implementing a medical cannabis system that Gov. Andy Beshear , a Democrat, signed the law into effect in March. The program won’t launch until 2025.
Beshear launched a website in October to track the implementation for the program. He formed a group to examine cannabis policy in Kentucky and the rest of the country.
According to the governor, the site contains information which could be useful for “prospective providers, growers and physicians [nurse practitioners] as well as others who are interested in the program.”
In a previous executive order signed by him in 2022, he stated that Kentuckians who have medical conditions qualifying for medical cannabis can continue to get relief from medical marijuana by traveling out of the state and carefully reading all conditions.
This order allows patients meeting certain criteria, such as cancer or epilepsy diagnoses, to possess medical cannabis obtained legally from dispensaries located in other states. He also approved an executive order that regulates the sale of delta-8-THC products.
The Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission held two public meetings last year on a proposal that would channel at least $42,000,000 in state funds to ibogaine researchers for the next six-year period, and investigate whether and how ibogaine assisted therapy can help treat opioid addiction. However, this proposal seems to have stalled after leadership changes within the commission.
Beshear is a proponent of medical marijuana, and has expressed support for marijuana legalization. He has said in the past, “It’s time we join so many other States in doing the right things.” He has also pointed out that Kentucky farmers are already major hemp producers and would be in a good position to sell cannabis to other state.
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Photo by Philip Steffan.
The article New Kentucky Bill would legalize marijuana use, possession and home cultivation–but not sales first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
