Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear approved the development of a cannabis research center, but he used his veto power to reject provisions of the measure. Beshear signed House Bill 604 barely one week after the Democratic governor announced plans to legalize medical marijuana in Kentucky.
According to the statute, the Kentucky Center for Cannabis Research would be formed at the University of Kentucky. The new facility’s objective, according to the legislation, would be to organize and conduct research “to further the study of the use of cannabis and cannabis derivatives for the treatment of specified medical ailments and disorders.”
The institution has previously performed some cannabis research and has a working partnership with the US Food and Drug Administration. The measure also requires the center to seek DEA clearance to produce cannabis and codifies eligibility conditions for those interested in engaging in therapeutic cannabis research.
The bill was enacted by the Kentucky legislature earlier this month, at the end of the legislative term. After the state Senate failed to adopt House Measure 136, a medicinal cannabis legalization bill passed by the House of Representatives, the bill got overwhelming support from politicians.
“This brings together experts and scholars from around the state on this problem so we can decrease bottlenecks in the research and regulatory procedures,” GOP Representative Kimberly Poore Moser, the bill’s author, said last month. “Our objective is to discover out what ailments cannabis may treat and, in doing so, establish Kentucky as a national leader in research, as just one other university has a similar program.”