Two proposed state regulations related to Kentucky’s medical cannabis law passed in 2023 are on hold for another month.
Both proposed regulations were on the Jan. 8 agenda for the state legislative Administrative Regulation Review Subcommittee in recent days but were removed from the agenda before Monday’s afternoon meeting. The proposed regulations would establish professional standards for health providers authorized to certify use of medical cannabis when the program launches on Jan. 1, 2025.
One of the proposed regulations applies to licensed physicians, and the other applies to advanced practice registered nurses (or nurse practitioners). Both proposals were removed from the Jan. 8 subcommittee agenda and deferred until February after public comment periods resulted in amendments to one regulation and pending documentation for the other.
The next meeting of the subcommittee, which meets monthly, is in February. Regulations heard by the subcommittee must then be assigned to a House or Senate standing committee (session-only committee) before they can take effect.
Regulations from licensure boards that will allow providers to apply for authorization to certify the use of medical cannabis are required by state law to be in effect no later than July 1, 2024. That requirement comes from Kentucky’s medical cannabis law (Senate Bill 47) passed by the 2023 General Assembly last March and signed by Gov. Andy Beshear the next day.
Other cannabis regulations pending
Regulations for the sale, cultivation, safe dosage, and marketing of medical cannabis in Kentucky are also pending as the countdown to the program launch continues.
Ten “ordinary” regulations (as opposed to emergency regulations filed to meet an “imminent threat” or need) were filed with the administrative regulation review subcommittee on Jan. 4, according to the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Those regulations – which will go through the same process as the Board of Medical Licensure and Board of Nursing regs – spell out operating procedures for cultivators, processors, producers, safe compliance facility, dispensary, transportation and delivery, advertising, packaging and labeling of medical cannabis, and medical cannabis testing in the commonwealth.
Proposed regulations related to patients and caregivers specifically, according to the cabinet, include the following:
- Procedures for “issuance, renewal, suspension, and revocation of registry identification cards”
- The process “by which a medical cannabis practitioner may recommend an amount of medical cannabis in excess of the standard 30-day supply if deemed necessary for uninterrupted therapeutic or palliative relief,” and
- “Educational materials to be disseminated to registered qualified patients, visiting qualified patients, and designated caregivers regarding dosage and impairment”
Not legal in Kentucky is recreational cannabis, which has been legalized so far in 24 states, including Ohio. But a few bills that could bring recreational use to the bluegrass state are in the pipeline.
One of those is an adult-use cannabis bill filed last week. That bill is House Bill 90, sponsored by House Minority Whip Rachel Roberts (D-Newport). Another bill filed last week (by Louisville Democrat Rep. Nima Kulkarni) would legalize personal-use cannabis for those age 21 and older (HB 72). Kulkarni has also filed a bill that proposes making personal use of cannabis for those age 21 and older a constitutional right in the commonwealth.
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Written by Rebecca Hanchett. Cross-posted from Link NKY.
