Retired Judge Favors Medical Marijuana in Kansas

By Michael Hooper

Kansas is moving slowly toward the creation of a medical marijuana program after examining programs in Missouri, Oklahoma and Colorado.

Rep. John Barker, a retired judge from Abilene, has been working on a bill that would create the Kansas Medical Marijuana Regulation Act and the Kansas Medical Marijuana Regulation Program.

                                         Rep. John Barker

For the very first time, a medical marijuana bill made it out of committee in the Legislature on March 29. The Kansas House Federal and State Affairs Committee approved the bill 13-8 sending it to the house for debate. That bill has been folded into House Sub for SB158 and was referred back to committee.

"This is the second year we have introduced this bill," said Barker, chairman of the Committee on Federal and State Affairs. "We had a hearing and we worked on the bill and then moved it to the floor of the House. The speaker sent it back to committee."

The committee's bill, modeled after the Ohio medical marijuana program, authorizes doctors to prescribe cannabis to patients suffering from one of 20 conditions, including AIDs, cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain, multiple sclerosis and PTSD.

Barker described his committee members as very conservative people; debate on the bill in March was contentious. Law enforcement has come out against it, but some doctors support it. Advocates said it would provide much needed relief to Kansans suffering from various ailments, such as epilepsy or chronic pain.

Barker said he plans to work on the bill with committee members, and discuss possible amendments or changes.

"We will get through it," Barker said in an interview with the author on April 15, 2021.

The Legislature returns from spring break on May 3.

Barker anticipates the Committee on Federal and State Affairs would approve the medical marijuana bill and send it back to the House floor. He believes there is 70 votes in the House to approve it. If that happens, he said, the bill would either be dead at the Senate or go to a conference committee.

If the bill is approved by the Senate, Barker said Gov. Laura Kelly will sign it.

Thirty-six states have approved some form of medical cannabis legalization, but it is still illegal at the federal level, Barker said. He expects Congress to move cannabis from a Schedule 1 to Schedule III or IV for medicinal usage.

Barker said his committee looked at cannabis programs in Colorado, Oklahoma and Missouri. Missouri is full of lawsuits now because of the cap on the number of medical marijuana licenses. Barker favors no cap on licenses in Kansas.

Let the free market determine the number of medical marijuana distributors in Kansas, he said.

"I'm a conservative. I believe in the free market system," Barker said. "Some businesses will fail, some will succeed."

Barker said in Maryland, a medical cannabis license is more than $1 million and cannabis is very expensive. He said competition will make the cannabis market more competitive, so the average guy can get a month's prescription at a reasonable price. He described Oklahoma's medical marijuana program as the wild west.

"We want a more structured program in Kansas," Barker said.

House Sub for SB158 creates a medical board under the Kansas Health and Environment. Doctors would go through training to issue prescriptions of medical marijuana. Pharmacists would have a role in it, Barker said.

The state Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) would be in charge of enforcing regulations in the cannabis bill.

Gov. Kelly had proposed a medical marijuana program that would generate tax revenue to support Medicaid expansion. But Kelly Rippel, an independent cannabis consultant in Topeka, said that idea did not go over well in the Legislature.

House Sub for SB158 does not address decriminalization of cannabis laws in Kansas, but Barker believes this should be addressed too. Law enforcement should not have to worry about someone with a couple of marijuana cigarettes, he said.

Legalization has been slow to come to Kansas. 

"We're in a time of transition, said Rippel, an appointed member of the Industrial Hemp Advisory Board under the Kansas Department of Agriculture.

House Sub for SB158 would specify that only the following forms of medical marijuana may be dispensed,"oils; tinctures; plant material; edibles; and patches."

The bill would "prohibit the smoking, combustion, or vaporization of medical marijuana; any forms or methods of using medical marijuana that are considered attractive to children; and the dispensing of medical marijuana from a vending machine or through electronic commerce."

While the bill may appear to prohibit "smoking medical marijuana," Rippel noted that the bill does allow "plant material" to be sold.

Rippel also said the Commercial Industrial Hemp Act of Kansas needs modified to match the USDA Final Hemp Rule. It may be a slow process, but he maintains there is hope on the horizon. A recent amendment to HB2244, which passed both chambers in the statehouse, is on its way to Governor Kelly's desk. This new law would allow the sale of items with hemp seed and CBD products that contain the federally legal amount of 3% THC.

Medical cannabis typically has 10% to 35% THC. The Barker bill has a cap of 35% THC levels in Kansas.

Michael Hooper is a longtime journalist in Kansas and Nebraska. His blog is thoughtfulinvestors.blogspot.com