Kentucky: Comprehensive report shows residents are leaving the state for access.
Gov. Andy Beshear formed the Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee after a legislative effort to legalize medical cannabis fizzled in the Senate. The committee traveled the state to hear directly from Kentuckians on a number of topics related to medical cannabis.
Among the findings:
• Kentucky residents want medical cannabis.
• And they’re already accessing medical cannabis because Kentuckians are just traveling to other states with legal cannabis programs. “They want to be able to return to the commonwealth without breaking the law,” the governor’s office noted in a summary.
• Kentucky residents are “suffering” from a variety of chronic health conditions and opioids aren’t helping.
“Kentuckians are fearful of their addictive properties. Research indicates individuals cannot overdose from cannabis,” the summary continued.
• Veterans with PTSD said that medical cannabis “significantly eased” their symptoms.
The committee held a number of town hall meetings, during which the “advisory committee did not hear any opposition,” noted Kerry Harvey, co-chair of the committee and secretary of the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet.
“Everyone who spoke supported legalizing medical cannabis in Kentucky,” Harvey said in a statement. “We heard from many Kentuckians that use cannabis for its beneficial medical effects but can only do so by breaking the law as it now exists. Many of these Kentuckians must leave the commonwealth to legally obtain medical cannabis in one of the 38 states where it is legal.”
Also in Kentucky: A new cannabis research center.
The new UK Cannabis Center, based within the UK College of Medicine’s Center on Drug and Alcohol Research (CDAR), will focus its research on the “health effects of cannabis, including its risks and benefits when used to treat certain medical conditions.”
Specifically, the center aims to “accelerate research on cannabis that is relevant to the health and well-being of Kentuckians.”
The center was created by Kentucky House Bill 604, and language in the bill directs $2 million over the next two years in state funding toward the effort.
“The legislature is interested in having us explore the conditions for which medical cannabis might be useful, as well as the most effective dosing and route of administration for each condition,” Shanna Babalonis, director of the UK Cannabis Center, said in a statement.
New Zealand: Companies fined for “unlawful advertising.”
The Therapeutic Goods Administration, which regulates cannabis in the country, has fined three cannabis companies nearly $1 million for 73 advertising violations.
They are:
MGC Pharmaceuticals Ltd: 23 notices, $306,360
Cannatrek Ltd: 22 notices, $293,040
Little Green Pharma Ltd: 28 notices, $372,960
The violations are for “the alleged unlawful advertising of medicinal cannabis products on their websites and social media platforms.”
Specifically, some of these ads “included unapproved references to the treatment of serious diseases or conditions” or “implied” that the products were “recommended or approved” by the government.