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Medical Marijuana Supporters Speak To Lawmakers

KQED News

Supporters of medical marijuana in Kentucky are once again taking their efforts to Frankfort.

Advocates briefed lawmakers in the House Health & Welfare Committee on Thursday (Jan. 9) on the medical benefits of marijuana. They say it can alleviate symptoms of multiple illnesses.

Josh Stanley works at the Colorado-based Realm of Caring, a non-profit organization that cultivates strains of marijuana for medical use.

Stanley told lawmakers that his company has developed a low-potency strain that can be used to treat epilepsy in children, and that Kentucky families have moved to his state to use this product.

“For a parent to stand across an invisible border and a boundary that we call a state and watch other children get well, and know that there’s nothing they can do for their child because they live in Kentucky, or they live in Kansas, it’s unacceptable. Something has to happen in that regard,” says Stanley.

Committee member Rep. Robert Benvenuti voiced opposition to the idea, saying that he was skeptical of the science.