Kentucky Gov Beshear Wants To Add Glaucoma, AIDS And 13 More Conditions To Medical Marijuana Program

Governor Andy Beshear (D) announced Thursday during this Team Kentucky update that he would like to expand medical marijuana access.

In March 2023, Kentucky became the 38th state in the nation to enable access to medical marijuana for patients with debilitating conditions when Beshear signed Senate Bill 47 into law. The regulatory framework was created ahead of the full implementation of SB 47, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.

The legislation legalized medical marijuana for patients with the following qualifying conditions: cancer, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, epilepsy, chronic nausea and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Now, Gov. Beshear is seeking to expand the list with 15 conditions, following the suggestions of two independent advisory boards and one created by the general assembly. Those conditions include:

• ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease
• Parkinson’s disease
• Chron’s disease
• Sickle cell anemia
• Cachexia or wasting syndrome
• Neuropathies
• Severe arthritis
• Hepatitis C (only one group voted yes on this one)
• Fibromyalgia
• Muscular dystrophy
• Huntington’s disease
• HIV
• AIDS
• Glaucoma
• Terminal illness

Beshear said this would make medical cannabis accessible to an additional 437,000 people.

For these conditions to be included, legislation needs to be approved by the General Assembly.

Beshear also announced the first 10 regulations of the medical marijuana (MMJ) program have been established and that will provide how cannabis businesses, cultivators, dispensaries and more will operate. He said the state’s medical marijuana program is on schedule.

The governor announced a partnership with Tyler Technologies as well as Metrc, a provider of cannabis regulatory systems, which helps MMJ programs meet legal requirements, establish electronic monitoring systems and patient/caregiver registries, reported Lex 18.

Photo: Benzinga edit with images by Charity Hedges via Wikimedia Commons and Africa Studio on Shutterstock