Kentucky General Assembly considers several cannabis bills 

The 2025 legislative session in Kentucky is underway and numerous cannabis-related bills have been introduced — both good and bad. 

As in previous years, there is a mixed bag of legislation that has been filed. Two bills stick out as very bad policy. HB34 and its Senate companion SB230 seek to criminalize drivers for having small amounts of THC in their system (5 ng/mL of blood). This approach is not based on science. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the federal government’s auto safety experts, recognize these per se limits are not an effective measure of impairment. The American Automobile Association (AAA) does not support per se limitations of cannabinoids in a bloodstream as proof of impairment. You can let your legislator know that you do not support this non-scientific approach to driving under the influence.

There are also many pieces of legislation that seek to move cannabis policy in the right direction. HB571 seeks to expand the number of qualifying conditions in Kentucky’s medical cannabis program. 

There have been several legalization bills filed for the 2025 session including HB105/SB36 (via a constitutional amendment to go to voters) and HB106/SB33 (legalization via the legislature). The legislature has traditionally been very resistant to legalization bills, but that can only change if voters engage with their legislators. 

Medical cannabis implementation underway

On March 31, 2023, Gov. Andy Beshear (D), signed medical cannabis legislation into law, making Kentucky the 38th state with a comprehensive medical cannabis law. On March 30, 2023, the Kentucky House of Representatives passed SB 47 in a 66-33 vote. The Senate had approved the bill in a 26-11 vote.

The law took effect on January 1, 2025. 

The state created a patient-friendly process to apply to become a registered medical cannabis patient. The registry opened in January 2025. The licensing process for the medical cannabis businesses program has concluded and sales are expected to begin in the second half of 2025. 

Gov. Beshear also signed Executive Order #2022-798 in November 2022 that provides some protections for medical patients who bought cannabis where it is legal.This Executive Order is planned to be rescinded once medical cannabis patients can legally purchase cannabis in Kentucky. SB 47 does not allow the smoking of raw cannabis but raw cannabis for vaporization is allowed. The list of qualifying conditions includes PTSD and “chronic, severe, intractable, or debilitating pain.” It also provides for additional conditions to be approved administratively. For more details, check out MPP’s summary of the law.

Regulations were issued in Spring 2024 and are available on the Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis website. 

Kentucky is one of 19 states that doesn’t even have a decriminalization law

While 31 other states have either legalized cannabis for adults or reduced the penalty for simple possession to a fine, Kentucky continues to arrest thousands of its residents every year for cannabis possession. Possessing even the smallest amount of cannabis in Kentucky carries up to 45 days in jail and/or a fine of up to $250. In addition to the trauma and disruption of an arrest, criminal records derail lives, making it very difficult to get an education, housing, jobs, and professional and occupational licensing.

Compounding the injustice, cannabis laws are unequally enforced. Half of adults acknowledge having used cannabis, but enforcement is staggeringly unequal. Kentucky also has the worst racial disparities in the nation, with an ACLU report finding Black individuals are 9.4 times as likely to be arrested for cannabis possession as white individuals, despite similar use rates.

In 2023 and 2024, Kentucky lawmakers proposed several bills to legalize cannabis, but none advanced before legislative deadlines.Though there have been no decriminalization bills submitted in the 2025 legislative session, you can still let your legislators know you want them to stop jailing cannabis consumers in 2025, or ask them to legalize and regulate cannabis for adults.

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