Legislation filed today in the Kentucky House would make sweeping changes to the state’s medical marijuana program, including allowing registered patients and caregivers to grow a limited number of marijuana plants at home.
As filed, the legislation would significantly expand patient protections and access under Kentucky’s medical marijuana law. One of the most notable provisions would allow registered adult patients to cultivate up to three mature marijuana plants and three seedlings at their own residence. Registered caregivers would be allowed to grow the same amount per patient, subject to certain limitations. Plants would be required to be kept in an enclosed, locked indoor space on private property.
The proposal also expands and clarifies qualifying medical conditions, explicitly covering all forms of cancer regardless of stage, as well as conditions such as severe arthritis, neuropathies, sickle cell disease, and Parkinson’s disease. It further strengthens legal protections for patients and caregivers, including limits on arrest, prosecution, search, and seizure when individuals are acting in compliance with the medical marijuana program.
In addition, the bill would prohibit the smell of uncombusted marijuana from being used as evidence of smoking and would prevent registry card possession from being treated as probable cause for searches. It also preserves existing restrictions around impaired driving, public consumption, and sales outside the regulated system.
If approved, the measure would mark one of the most substantial expansions of Kentucky’s medical marijuana framework since the program was enacted, shifting the state closer to models already in place in several neighboring states.
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