Issue Position: Medical Marijuana

Issue Position

I am the principal sponsor of HB 136, which would allow patients and physicians to use medical marijuana when it is right for the individual patient. It is a Let the Doctor Decide bill.

When I ran for office in 2016 I was against medical marijuana. I have never used marijuana in my life and I hadn't really thought much about marijuana policy, other than to know that I was against it. So when I was asked by constituents to meet with them at the Crestwood Library, my mind wasn't really that open. But after listening to regular people tell me their stories I started to research it for myself. I read everything I could, talked with colleagues (most importantly Rep. John Sims), and called a number of doctors in my district. I was wrong. It is not easy to admit that you're wrong on such an important topic. But I was. Now I am leading the charge to legalize medical marijuana in Kentucky.

Since I changed my position I have met with literally hundreds of citizens across Kentucky and in my district who have told me their personal stories. From the father with multiple sclerosis who just wants to go to work and provide for his family and needs medical marijauna to help with his muscle spasticity, to the 85-year-old man who lives in Anchorage who recently lost his wife and told me through tears that medical marijuana allowed his late wife to get up off the couch and live in her last days, to the couple and daughter pictured above who wants the chance to replace a bag-full of daily pills with medical marijuana as so many with her same condition in other states have done, to countless others, I am giving it all that I have to allow these patients and their doctors to make the choice that is best for them without government interference.

There is a lot of business that I have left to do as a representative. But if there were one single reason that I ask for your vote, it is so that I can go back to Frankfort and finish this. For the first time in history we passed medical marijuana through the House of Representatives. It will be a fight to pass it through the House again, and then a battle to get the Senate to pass it. But I think I can get win. And I ask for your support and vote so we can get the job done.

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