By Carolyn Reid
FALMOUTH — City Council voted 4-1 during Thursday night’s special meeting to put a medical cannabis question on the city’s November ballot.
The action came after the Kentucky State Legislature and Gov. Andy Beshear paved the way for the legalization of so-called “medical marijuana,” the cannabis that can legally be produced in designated places and sold in licensed dispensaries, beginning in 2025.
Governments across the state have to choose whether they will not allow it, legislate it for the communities, or allow voters to decide in time for the measures to be put on ballots and/or ordinances to be put into place to accommodate the new medical possibilities.
Pendleton County Fiscal Court voted earlier this summer to put the measure on the ballot for county voters to decide whether they’d accept dispensaries or grow operations within their borders.
CONS
Stephanie Green of Three Rivers Health Department was on hand to argue against the measure, citing the misunderstanding of the community who are familiar with marijuana plants grown in the past.
Those plants, she said, were much less potent than the current cannabis the Kentucky legislature legalized for medical purposes across the state last session.
She talked about the problem of vaping, oils, tinctures, and other uses teens are experiencing with cannabis and cannabis related products.
She asked the city to opt out of the legislation for the city or to at least put it on the ballot.
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