Feature Story
Did Kansas GOP Lawmakers Betray Dying Veteran and Kansas Patients For Out-of-State Big Cannabis Money ?
I am trying to remember when I first talked to David Auble . It must have been sometime in 2015 . ( This is the frustration that comes with autoimmune brain fog and bad memory .) I normally would pick up my phone to ask him , as I have done for many years . We would laugh and say that between my autoimmune and his radiation damage , we just might be able to come up with one full memory . However , calling my friend is no longer an option .
I am writing this article because my friend , a long-time member of Bleeding Kansas Advocates ( BKA ), died on May 31 . His cancer came back and took him from us . I am grieving and angry . Not just because he is dead , but because he told lawmakers for years that he would be .
He told them that the cancer would come back and take his life if they continued to tie his hands . That is how he would explain it .
“ You defend my right to fight for my life with a gun should an intruder come into my home , but when it comes to fighting cancer , you tie my hands behind my back by denying me access to medical cannabis .” ~ David Auble
by Lisa Ash Sublett , contributing writer
I remember the first time I heard him explain it this way . I thought it was both a succinct and uniquely brilliant appeal to Kansas GOP lawmakers . I thought , surely , they would see the logic in his argument . They did not . They still have not .
Senator Cindy Holscher and David Auble ( deceased ) at the Kansas capitol advocating for patient rights and legalization change .
This session , Senator Masterson ripped the house bill from the Federal and State Affairs Committee , where it was shortly to be heard , and parked it in a committee of which he was chair and then sat on the bill .
Unusually quickly , another bill would be introduced into the Federal and State Affairs Committee to replace the bill Masterson took . A hearing was held , and the bill went to a conference committee so the house and senate could agree on changes and pass it through . There was a conference committee meeting one morning , and at break , they announced that they would be back that afternoon to finish the negotiations . They never came back .
There is speculation as to why they did not pass either bill this session , including the horrific possibility that out-of-state big cannabis has several GOP lawmakers in their pockets . These big money interests did not want these bills to pass as is but instead wanted fees raised higher to exclude mom and pop craft growers and mom and pop retailers . So , are these elected lawmakers screwing over Kansas businesses and Kansas patients to line their own pockets ? Did big
Let me clarify , the Kansas representatives in the Kansas House did . They passed reform last session . The Kansas Senate did not . Last session , Senate President Ty Masterson said they did not have enough time to work on the bill sent over from the house . Then he said there had been too many changes to the bill , and the senate would need the next session to review those changes .
40 July 2022
For years , cancer patient David Auble ( in wheelchair on lower far right ) would travel to the Kansas capitol advocating for patient rights and legalization .