Medical marijuana bill introduced in Senate

Last week, a medical marijuana bill was introduced in the Senate and referred to the Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs. Senate Bill 555 has the short title, ‘Creating the medical cannabis pilot program act to establish the medical cannabis pilot program for limited cultivation, processing and dispensing of medical cannabis and medical cannabis products’.

The bill is 50 pages and is seemingly restrictive in many aspects, with a few key things to note.

The people who would benefit from this bill are those with the following conditions:

• Acquired immune deficiency syndrome;
• amyotrophic lateral sclerosis;
• autism;
• cancer;
• chronic traumatic encephalopathy;
• Crohn’s disease;
• epilepsy or another seizure disorder;
• fibromyalgia;
• multiple sclerosis;
• Parkinson’s disease;
• post-traumatic stress disorder;
• sickle cell anemia;
• spinal cord disease or injury;
• traumatic brain injury;
• ulcerative colitis; or
• pain that is either chronic and severe or intractable.

These patients must also be 21 years of age or older and hold a valid medical cannabis certificate. A caregiver of 21 years of age or older that is “designated as such patient’s caregiver on a valid medical cannabis certificate and holds a copy of such valid medical cannabis certificate” would also be able to purchase or possess medical cannabis on behalf of the patient.

According to the bill, the medical cannabis pilot program act shall not be construed to:

• Require a physician to recommend that a patient use medical cannabis to treat a qualifying medical condition;
• permit the use, possession or administration of medical cannabis other than as authorized by this act;
• permit the use, possession or administration of medical cannabis on federal land located in this state;
• require any public place to accommodate a patient’s use of medical cannabis;
• prohibit any public place from accommodating a patient’s use of medical cannabis; or
• restrict research related to cannabis conducted at a postsecondary educational institution, academic medical center or private research and development organization as part of a research protocol approved by an institutional review board or equivalent entity.

According to section 4 of the act, this program is to be administered by the Secretary of Health and Environment who can enter into no more than four contracts with medical cannabis operators “for the cultivation and processing of medical cannabis and medical cannabis products” in Kansas. Each operator must pay the Secretary “an annual amount of no less than $50,000” for the “privilege of being a medical cannabis operator.”

Section 5 provides a bunch of red tape regarding who can contract with the Secretary, including:

• Be a citizen of the United States;
• have not been convicted of a felony under the laws of this state, any other state or the United States;
• be at least 21 years of age;
• not intend to carry on the authorized business activities or conduct such business activities on behalf of or for the primary benefit of another person who does not satisfy the requirements of this section;
• own or lease the premises on which the authorized business activities will be conducted; and
• have been a resident of this state since July 1, 2021, except if the person is a business entity, then not less than 80% of the total equity of such business entity shall be held by individuals who have been a resident of this state since July 1, 2021.

Section 6 is more red tape on how the business must operate.

• Cultivate and harvest medical cannabis flower in facilities that are completely enclosed and windowless;
• conduct cultivation activities in such facilities on an aggregate of 25,000 square feet of floor area for mature, flowering cannabis plants. Such floor area limitation shall not apply to any areas that do not contain mature, flowering cannabis plants, including areas containing mother plants, vegetative plants, clones or seedlings; and
• use single horizontal tiers for mature, flowering plants when cultivating medical cannabis.

Section 7 goes into details about how no batch of medical cannabis or medical cannabis products may be sold without first being tested and certified for use or consumption by the state contracted laboratory.

Under section 12 of the bill, it states that “smoking, combustion, or vaporization of medical cannabis or medical cannabis products is prohibited.” The only following forms of medical cannabis or medical cannabis products may be sold under the program:

• Medical cannabis flower;
• pills or tablets;
• tinctures;
• patches; or
• ointments.

The inhalation by the non-combustive heating of cannabis flower is not considered “vaporization” or “smoking” under this act.

Tetrahydrocannabinol content in excess of 35 percent will not be allowed in medical cannabis, under this act, and any signage or advertisements for medical cannabis or medical cannabis products is not allowed except on the internet. There are many restrictions on what these advertisements may contain. There are also numerous restrictions on how a product may be packaged.

According to section 27, “the provisions of the medical cannabis pilot program act, sections 1 through 27, and amendments thereto, shall expire on July 1, 2029.”

It would be a class A person misdemeanor to leave products out where someone under the age of 21 years could get to them.

An 8 percent tax on the gross receipts received from the sale of medical cannabis and medical cannabis products will be imposed on any medical cannabis operator in Kansas. For comparison, Kansas has a sales tax of 6.5 percent.

To read the full 50-page bill, click here.