What the New Democrat-controlled Senate means for federal legalization of marijuana in 2021

Kentucky legislative leaders said in a recent joint interview that they were prepared to consider legalizing medical marijuana during the state’s 30-day legislative session that began this week, but lawmakers on both sides have pushed back a plan by Governor Andy Beshear (D) that would impose a drug tax.

“If you take this approach, that it’s a money generator, then you don’t think of the medicinal or therapeutic value,” said Senate Speaker Robert Stivers II (right). To impose a tax on marijuana genuinely intended for medical use, he added, would be “to treat it differently from any other drug, which in itself is wrong.”

Stivers, a longtime medical marijuana skeptic, said he was recently convinced of the therapeutic benefits of THC in certain treatments, although he declined to support the legalization of this session. “I’m not against it,” he said, “but I really think the leadership – and I hate doing this – has to come from the federal government.

“Let’s get the proper protocols and do the research and development like we did last year, with the COVID-19 vaccines,” Stivers added. “Just like we would with Moderna, or whatever, let’s go through the study, get some blind samples, make sure we get it right.”

Stivers and other high-level lawmakers, including Speaker of the House Dave Osborn (right), Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey (R) and House Minority Leader Joni Jenkins (R) , spoke in an interview with Kentucky PBS station KET on Monday.

The State House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a medical marijuana legalization bill last year, but Sen. Whitney Westerfield (right), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, blocked the bill in committee. The coronavirus pandemic broke out the same month, in March, and the Senate never backtracked.

Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey (D) said in KET’s interview this week that he was “past the time of medical marijuana in Kentucky,” and urged his colleagues to simply allow a legalization bill to be voted on this session.

“I would just like it to be put to a vote,” he said. “If it passes on the floor of the Senate, so much the better. If it does not pass on the floor of the Senate, then that also says something.

Watch lawmakers discuss medical cannabis, at around 32:40 in the video below:

No Senate legalization bills have yet been introduced this session, but McGarvey said some in his party are considering it.

A poll taken last February found that nine in ten Kentuckians supported the legalization of medical marijuana and nearly six in 10 (59 percent) believed cannabis should be legal “under all circumstances”.

McGarvey has agreed with his Republican counterparts that if marijuana is legalized it should not be subject to tax. “I don’t think we should view medical marijuana itself as a revenue producer for the state,” he said. “There will be revenue that comes from allowing medicinal marijuana to be grown and cultivated and then distributed here, but we have a drug tax ban in Kentucky, and that’s something I’m actually in favor of.

This position conflicts with Governor Beshear’s proposal to legalize medical marijuana and tax drugs to generate state revenue. “If the revenues are not positive,” he said in a previous KET interview recorded on Dec. 28, ahead of the legislative session, “you can’t support the administrative arm needed to make sure everything is fine. made.”

The tax would not necessarily be charged to patients at the point of sale, the governor said, but could instead be imposed on producers or retailers. Any tax would, however, likely increase costs for patients.

Beshear said the money was needed to cover expenses such as inspections and enforcement. Last year’s bill, he said, suggested lawmakers did not understand the capabilities of state regulatory agencies.

“We certainly hope, since the enforcement of this law will fall to the executive branch,” said the governor, “that they will tell us about where to house him and how to do it effectively.”

Watch the Governor discuss medical cannabis, at around 36:25 in the video below:

Biparty House lawmakers, meanwhile, appeared to acknowledge in the KET interview that the main political obstacle to legalization is in the Senate.

“Our caucus has been behind this for many, many sessions,” said Parliamentary Minority Leader Jenkins, “and nothing has changed in that regard.

House Speaker Osborne suggested that medical cannabis would likely make its way back into his chamber and that “there is some hope that the Senate will take it back.”

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“At the end of the day, I think the overwhelming majority of people in our caucus, in our bodies, in our bedroom, are sick and tired of making criminals sick,” he said. “You know, we freely prescribe narcotics and opioids every day with far more serious consequences.”

Osborne has also joined the chorus of lawmakers opposed to drug taxation. “I totally disagree with the governor on taxation,” he said. “We don’t tax medicine in this state. It is inhumane to tax medicine. We made this statement as a tax policy years and years ago… To open this debate, we had to fully open the debate on the taxation of pharmaceuticals.

Like most states in the United States, Kentucky exempts prescription drugs but not over the counter drugs. While marijuana is not regulated as a prescription drug, a medical marijuana law would likely require patients to get a doctor’s referral in the same way as a prescription.

At the federal level, drug reform watchers have been following Kentucky closely in part because some reformers hoped any form of legalization might encourage U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (right), who represents the state, to relax its position on cannabis. McConnell has been a constant obstacle to legalization in the Senate and was generally expected to be a deciding factor in whether the chamber will hear marijuana legislation in 2021.

However, victories this week for Democrats in the second round of elections in Georgia for two seats in the United States Senate – which seemed likely on Wednesday morning – would remove McConnell from his post as Senate Majority Leader, significantly weakening his influence on politics. national cannabis campaign and allowing Democrats to move more. easily on cannabis reform.

“If Democrats win those two seats,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said last month, “I’m pretty confident you’ll see – maybe not the major legislation I’m looking for – but you’re going to see a relaxing.”

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