House passes bill adding more restrictions to Kentucky’s medical marijuana program

In what the sponsor calls a bill to "clean some things up," more restrictions are being added to the state's medical-marijuana law and provisions were added to allow local school districts to opt out.

Some of the key provisions in House Bill 829, sponsored by Rep. Jason Nemes (R-Middletown), include:

• requiring prospective patients to pass background checks before they can be issued a medical marijuana card

• requiring medical marijuana cardholders to meet with a pharmacist before they can purchase product from a dispensary

• allowing K-12 schools to opt out of medical marijuana access policies

“It seems like we’re adding even more hurdles to make this medicine harder to receive, more expensive for folks to access. ... I really wish we were back here today to make this medicine more accessible to the people of Kentucky who have been asking us to do this for years,” said Rep. Rachel Roberts (D-Newport).

Rep. Rachel Roarx (D-Louisville) said allowing public school districts to opt out “puts barriers in place” for students who benefit from medical cannabis for conditions such as epilepsy.

The bill now continues on to the senate. You can find more information in this article by the Lexington Herald Leader.