The Kansas House passed a medical cannabis bill. Senate Leadership, including Senate President Ty Masterson, refused to allow the bill to come to the floor of the Senate.
The Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee scheduled early hearings for SB 158, but leadership, Senate leadership, including Senate President Ty Masterson, moved the bill to a non-working committee forcing the hearings to be cancelled. Members of the Senate then introduced their own bill and held Conference Committees with the House Federal and State Affairs Committee in an effort to find a compromise. Session ended with no agreement on a compromise bill.
A Special Committee on Medical Marijuana met over the interim to hear testimony from stakeholders and develop a bill for the 2023 legislative session.
Gov. Kelly kicked off the 2023 Legislative Session by calling for Medical Cannabis reform in her State of the State. Gov. Kelly cited the case of a man named Greg Bretz, who was terminally ill and was using marijuana to ease his pain. His hospital room was raided by the police, and Bretz was ordered to appear in court. A second example was a military veteran who refused to use medical cannabis to ease his suffering because it was not legal in our state, his op-ed calling for reform was published after his death. In a dismissive rebuttal Sen. President Ty Masterson stated that Bretz’s story did not move the needle for him and further stated, “I’m not going to be shamed into doing it from some bad examples.”
https://www.kansas.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/dion-lefler/article271609002.html
Sen. Rob Olson, Chair of Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee, introduced a medical cannabis bill, SB 135 and held 2 days of hearings. The bill was again thwarted by Senate leadership, including Sen. President Ty Masterson.
Leading into the 2023 legislative session, Sen. President Ty Masterson stripped Sen. Olson of his chair position on the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee. Olson believed he was removed in retaliation for his hearings for Medical Cannabis.
After Senate leadership, led by Sen. President Ty Masterson, refused to take action on SB 135, Sen. Olson made a motion to pull the bill out of committee and be heard on the floor of the Senate, but the motion failed 12 – 25, with most Republican Senators following leadership and refusing to allow Medical Cannabis to be debated on the floor of the Senate.
Late in the 2024 session a medical cannabis bill, SB 555, was introduced. The bill was deemed to benefit a single processor within the state and the Kansas Cannabis Coalition testified against it. The bill died in committee.
During the interim a Special Committee on Medical Cannabis met for 2 days to hear from stakeholders. Interim committees are tasked with making recommendations to the appropriate committees for the following legislative session. Senator Cindy Holscher sat on the committee and made the motion to recommend that the 2025 legislature pass medical cannabis legislation. The motion failed in committee.
Several advocacy groups introduce legislation, including SB 294, a medical cannabis bill, by the Kansas Cannabis Coalition and SB 295, a decriminalization bill for minor possession, by the Cannabis Justice Coalition. Leadership in the Senate did not allow any of the bills to be heard in committee and at the end of the legislative session Sen. Cindy Holscher presented the motion to pull the bill out of committee so it could have floor discussion. The motion failed along party lines, with Republicans voting against it.
During the 2025 legislative session the legislature did pass SB 250, which allows qualified patients the right to purchase drugs, biological products, or devices that are unique to and produced exclusively for use on an individual patient. Sen. Cindy Holscher offered an amendment to include medical cannabis in the bill but the motion failed. Governor Kelly did not sign or veto the bill, but instead wrote an opinion stating that “it is time to legalize medical marijuana and offer Kansans suffering from chronic pain, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or epilepsy as a treatment choice."
https://www.kanfocus.com/Amendments/119_250_a.pdf
The Kansas Cannabis Coalition continued to champion their bill, SB 294, but to no avail. Leadership in the KS Senate refused to allow a cannabis bill any action, and leadership in the KS House refused to take action knowing that the Senate would not take up any cannabis bills.
Other bills were introduced, including HB 2678, a Kansas Medical Cannabis Act, and SB 295, a bill that would decriminalize minor possession of cannabis. Sen. Cindy Holscher introduced SB 485, which would have moved cannabis from a Schedule 1 to a Schedule 3 drug, in alignment with talks at the federal level.
Cannabis legalization in Kansas has never been closer than this November 3!
For the past decade the Kansas Cannabis Coalition has been fighting for cannabis regulation in Kansas. This year voters will decide between candidates that will move Kansas forward, or keep us in the dark. We have a plan to educate voters about the history and benefits of cannabis regulation, but we need your help.
We need funding to reach voters in time for the elections. Our monthly fundraising goal is $25,000, and time is running out. Please donate to our campaign, or mail a check to PO Box 114, Sawyer, KS 67134.
We CAN put people in office who will support legalization if we do the work.
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