Kentucky House Bill 571, a measure to significantly expand the state’s medical marijuana program, has been assigned to the House Health Services Committee.
Ripe bud | Marijuana flower isolated on black with glistening trichromes
HB 571 was filed earlier this month by State Representative Alan Gentry (D) and placed in the House Committee on Committees. Yesterday, the bill advanced to the Health Services Committee.
The proposed law would allow medical marijuana patients or their caregiver to cultivate up to three mature plants and three seedlings at a private residence. The law allows patients to patient any amount of cannabis grown from these plants, but it prohibits patients and caregivers from selling or giving marijuana plants or products to anyone else.
HB 571 would also expand the state’s list of qualifying medical conditions to include fibromyalgia, Huntington’s disease, muscular dystrophy, Crohn’s disease, neuropathies, severe arthritis, Parkinson’s disease, and sickle cell disease. It also ensures that any form of cancer, regardless of stage, qualifies for treatment. The Kentucky Center for Cannabis would have the authority to add additional conditions based on scientific evidence.
Kentucky legalized medical marijuana on March 31, 2023, when Governor Andy Beshear signed Senate Bill 47 into law. The program took effect on January 1 of this year.
