Kansas NORML Testimony for 2022 SB560 - Medical Marijuana Senate Hearing.
This is our moment. We finally have a bi-partisan bill in the Senate with a Governor ready to sign and enact.
And we have a hearing TOMORROW at roughly 10:30 am! Watch it LIVE and show your support on the KSLegislature YouTube Channel
Below is the official testimony that Kansas NORML has submitted for tomorrow's hearing.
OFFICIAL TESTIMONY
March 15th, 2022
Senate Bill 560: Enacting the medical marijuana regulation act to regulate the cultivation, processing, distribution, sale and use of medical marijuana.
Proponent – WRITTEN ONLY Testimony
Esteemed Senate,
This letter is on behalf of Kansas NORML, written by Diane Pettipas, Communications Director.
As an organization we fight for recreational legalization for adults over 21, as Kansans today we are fighting for patients to gain access to safe medicine, and to be able to medicate without undue fear of prosecution or loss of livelihood. While SB560 is a shining example of bipartisan effort, there are 3 areas of the bill we believe need to be addressed as your honors amend and hear the bill, for both the safety and benefit of patients and others. In the interest of brevity, I will be brief and concise.
Our first area of concern affects patient access.
Page 4, lines 2-6 New Section 3 reads “(a) No person shall grow, harvest, process, sell, barter, transport, deliver, furnish or otherwise possess any form of marijuana, except as specifically provided in the medical marijuana regulation act or the commercial industrial hemp act, K.S.A. 2021 Supp. 2-3901 et seq., and amendments thereto.”
Kansas is a broad state, with a very scattered population density. While patients may use Telehealth to see their physician, they may not be able to travel the distances, due to their illnesses, to purchase their medication from the dispensary. Section 8 allows the use of a caregiver to act as a representative for the patients, which is wonderful, but when the nearest dispensary could be 100 miles away, it becomes an issue and an unjust bur