Medical marijuana passes KS House in historic vote but chances of becoming law uncertain

It’s been a slog for Lisa Sublett, who has spent more than 10 years seeking to legalize medical marijuana in Kansas.

Every legislative session has meant long hours at the statehouse, working to dispel myths about cannabis. Since Sublett started Bleeding Kansas Advocates on behalf of patients ten years ago, two of her co-founders have moved to other states where they could legally purchase marijuana for their sick children.

But the issue never gained much traction — until this year. On Thursday, the Kansas House passed a bill establishing a medical marijuana program after the Legislature’s first-ever floor vote on the issue.

Though the measure is unlikely to become law this year, advocates said they were pleased with the progress.

“It’s been a long haul, a long fight,” said Sublett, 51, who hopes to use medical cannabis to treat her own autoimmune disorder. “Even though it’s not everything I would want, it’s a starting place.”

In nearly five hours of debate, lawmakers considered the medical benefits, potential risks and economic questions surrounding a medical treatment that 36 other states have sanctioned.

Democrats spoke in unwavering favor while Republicans were split.

Rep. Troy Waymaster, a Bunker Hill Republican, told stories of loved ones who had suffered or lost their lives without access to medical marijuana. He said it was past time for legalization.

Rep. Blake Carpenter, a Derby Republican who carried the bill, said his support grew after the birth of his daughter.

“If my daughter had medical issues ... wouldn’t I as a parent do everything that I could to make her life better?” he said.

Among the Republicans speaking in support was Rep. Mark Samsel, a Wellsville Republican who was arrested last week for allegedly assaulting a student. In his first floor speech since his arrest, he cited favorable polling data from his district.

But some conservatives suggested medical marijuana would open the door to recreational use. Rep. Ron Highland, a Wamego Republican, said the state should not legalize a drug that the Federal Food and Drug Administration has yet to authorize.

Rep. Chuck Smith, a Pittsburg Republican, called marijuana a gateway drug and discounted its medical benefits.

“I really believe that as a country we’re getting soft,” he said.

Nevertheless, the bill passed the House 79 to 42. It now heads to the Senate.

In a statement Thursday Gov. Laura Kelly said she would continue working to pass the policy.

“Legalizing medical marijuana is commonsense, broadly popular policy that would improve Kansas’ overall health and economy while we recover from COVID-19 and beyond,” she said.

Giving up on Kansas

Many assumed Kansas would be the last state in the nation to pass the policy.

Daniel Shafton, vice president of the Kansas Cannabis Business Association, said advocates have tried different approaches over the years to gain support, making adjustments as legislative politics and players changed. Nothing worked.

“Most people had kind of given up on Kansas, they weren’t paying attention to any kind of initiative that was going forward,” said KCBA president Erin Montroy.

Budget worries created by cornavirus, combined with growing public and Republican support, Shafton said, created a “perfect storm” in 2021.

“Most people had kind of given up on Kansas, they weren’t paying attention to any kind of initiative that was going forward,” said KCBA president Erin Montroy.

Lawmakers and advocates credited bipartisan support and careful negotiation for the policy getting as far as it did this year.

House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat, said the support of House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, was essential.

“We’ve been fighting for that for years,” Sawyer said of the policy. “That’s happened because there’s a lot more public support than there used to be.”

Hawkins, previously an outspoken opponent of any marijuana legalization, said watching the support for the policy grow shifted his outlook.

“I’m not supporting it, I’m giving them the opportunity to hear it,” Hawkins said.

He added that the slow progress, and uncertain prospects this year wasn’t a bad thing and that the work would continue.

“Things take a long time,” Hawkins said. “If it wasn’t that way we would probably be in trouble but things are supposed to be difficult.”

‘Middle of the road tone’

Lawmakers began working on the policy in March, initially passing a version out of the House Federal and State Affairs committee at the end of April. Prospects became more uncertain when conservative Republicans balked, concerned that some provisions would enable recreational use. House leadership sent the bill back to committee for further consideration.

On Tuesday morning, the committee amended the bill in hopes of winning conservatives back.

“I think that moving forward here while nobody’s going to be happy with the overall product we are striking the right middle of the road tone where we have a decent medical marijuana program in the state of Kansas,” said Rep. Blake Carpenter, a Derby Republican who helped design the compromise.

The result is a relatively restrictive medical marijuana program. To gain access to the product, patients must have one or more of an approved list of diagnoses that include Alzheimer’s, cancer and Parkinson’s. And they must get a prescription from a doctor they’ve had a relationship with for at least six months. There is no limit on dispensaries in the state but individual counties may opt out.

The changes proved enough to gain support in the House but the policy is still unlikely to pass this year.

Senate President Ty Masterson told reporters Tuesday that he didn’t anticipate bringing the bill for a vote so late in the session without time for the Senate to vet it on its own.

“I can’t imagine we’d take the subject matter up this year,” he said. “It would be alive for next year, obviously.”

But proponents said this year’s breakthrough make it all the more likely that a program will be adopted before the end of the legislative session next year.

“It primes the pump to a degree. Usually when one chamber passes something it can kind of be a signal to the other chamber that vetting has been done,” said Sen. Cindy Holscher, an Overland Park Democrat who has advocated for the policy in the House.

Carpenter said lawmakers would work through the summer and fall to come back with a version of the bill that can pass next year.

Advocates Montroy, Shafton and Sublett said they believed prospects were good.

“The further it goes the more prepared we are to do this again,” Shafton said.

But Sublett warned that patients could still be harmed or leave the state if left waiting yet another year for legal marijuana.

“We have asked patients to hold on for so long,” Sublett said. “They have lost hope and faith in their lawmakers.”

‘Seems unreal’

Passage of the bill was the culmination of a long battle started by Rep. Gail Finney, D-Wichita, who’s fought for medical marijuana “since 2009, but who’s counting?”

“It seems unreal, I really didn’t think I’d see it during my term as a legislator,” Finney said. “But I always knew, I said, once David Haley and myself stopped pushing it and we’ll get a Republican white male, it would fly through.”

Finney and Haley, a senator from Kansas City, are both African American.

Finney has a severe form of lupus and is on the transplant list waiting for a kidney because of the disease.

She said she was inspired to fight for medical marijuana after countless medical appointments where she saw the suffering that her fellow patients were going through.

She introduced medical marijuana bills year after year and most years, the Legislature simply ignored it.

But she persisted.

Twice she got as far as an “informational hearing,” more or less a courtesy to legislators who passionately back a bill that’s going nowhere.

At one of the hearings, packed with medical marijuana supporters, the entire House Health and Human Services Committee except for one member got up and walked out, she said.

During Thursday’s debate, Finney got an amendment attached to the bill specifying lupus as one of the conditions for which medical marijuana could be prescribed.

The Eagle’s Dion Lefler contributed to this story.