TOPEKA — A Kansas House committee began adding flesh to bones of a medical marijuana bill Thursday to include caps on the number of cultivator, processing and dispensary licenses as well as provisions granting county commissions rather than city governments the option of blocking dispensaries.
Development of a medical marijuana law in Kansas has moved at a laidback pace for years, while dozens of states have proceeded to make the plant’s consumption for health purposes legal and polling shows widespread support for medical marijuana in Kansas. There appears to be bipartisan interest in the Legislature for development of a bill acceptable to lawmakers across the political spectrum, despite opposition from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and some members of city and county law enforcement.
The House Federal and State Affairs Committee began massaging House Bill 2184, but postponed more discussion and a final vote on the package until next week.
“There has been agreement on many areas. And, that’s what we want. We made fairly good progress,” said Rep. John Barker, the Abilene Republican who chairs the House Federal and State Affairs Committee.
The committee, which last month absorbed a wave of testimony in support and testimony against medical marijuana, discussed provisions limiting state licenses to a maximum of 60 retail dispensaries. Other proposed medical marijuana licensing caps under consideration: 10 cultivators, five laboratories, 10 processors, and 10 distributors.
Under an amendment raised by Derby Rep. Blake Carpenter, the state’s county commissions would be granted authority to decide whether a county hosted medical marijuana dispensaries. The bill, in its current form, wouldn’t extend that power to city governments.
“We still have dry counties here in the state of Kansas,” Carpenter said. “There’s some communities that will embrace this with open arms. There’s others that I think their constituents will not approve.”
Rep. Paul Waggoner, R-Hutchinson, said there was justification for extending to county commissions the opportunity to also ban from the county all cultivators, laboratories, processors and distributors working in the medical marijuana industry.
The committee discussed a provision requiring patients to have a minimum six-month relationship with a physician or health clinic before receiving approval for use of medical marijuana. In terms of reciprocity, there is support for state-by-state determinations of whether to accept medical marijuana cards issued outside of Kansas.
A grower involved in Kansas’ medical marijuana system would be limited by proposed amendments to a maximum of 1,750 growing plants at one time, but that producer would be allowed to annually petition for a 500-plant increase. Annual fees for renewal of a cultivator license in Kansas would be approximately $100,000.
The original bill prohibited a registered patient in Kansas from possessing more than a 90-day supply of medical marijuana. The committee planned to return next week to amendments guiding issuance of identification cards to medical marijuana patients in Kansas. That notion led to a brief discussion about the potential of microchips being implanted in people taking part in the medical marijuana system, but Carpenter assured his colleagues the ID mandate didn’t involve chips tucked inside patients.
Another amendment raised in the committee meeting would allow rejected license applicants to apply again in 12 months. The committee moved toward adoption of a regulatory structure for the medical marijuana industry borrowed from state law on oversight of beer, wine and liquor.
Rep. Randy Garber, a Sabetha Republican supportive of passing a medical marijuana law in Kansas, said he wasn’t convinced it was appropriate to apply regulations suitable for alcoholic beverages to the consumption of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
“Alcohol, in my opinion, does nothing good for anybody,” said Garber, offering a contrast with limited use of marijuana. “We’re talking about a substance, at this point, that has been shown time and time again to help hundreds and hundreds of people’s lives and change them for the better.”
Several Republicans lauded an amendment prohibiting dispensaries from advertising on highway billboards. Dispensaries also would be limited to posting business signs no larger than 16 inches by 18 inches and wouldn’t be allowed to deploy illuminated signage. The House committee also could incorporate a total ban on advertising by medical marijuana cultivators, processors and distributors.
