A bill to give Kentucky residents access to medical marijuana could go up for a full state House vote as soon as this week.
The state’s House Judiciary Committee cleared the bill a 17-1 vote last week. Now, the full House is expected to vote on it and, if approved, it will head to the state Senate. Governor Andy Beshear has indicated he will sign the bill into law if it passes the Senate, which would make Kentucky the 34th state to allow medical use.
“[Kentucky is] a state that’s really been hit hard by the opioid epidemic and patients have been rallying and lobbying in Frankfort for many years imploring lawmakers to pass a medical cannabis law,” Marijuana Policy Project Legislative Analyst Matt Simon told Cheddar Tuesday.
Simon said the bill would prohibit smoking cannabis, but would allow patients to purchase whole flower cannabis for other uses, like vaping and cooking into edibles, Simon said.
Some lawmakers initially thought the anti-smoking clause was too restrictive, but the compromise ultimately made it into the latest version of the bill.
An intense police search of the Long Island home of Rex Heuermann is now complete, authorities said Tuesday as they ended a 12-day hunt for evidence that involved ripping up the yard and the discovery of a basement vault containing hundreds of weapons kept by the man accused of killing at least three women more than a decade ago.
A towering construction crane caught fire high above the west side of Manhattan on Wednesday morning, then lost its long arm, which smashed against a nearby building, dangled and then plummeted to the street as people ran for their lives on the sidewalk below.
