Anti-Pot Senator Gets Cancer; Decides Medical Marijuana Not So Bad
By Adam Beam - 30 th January 2019 (Flowsent)
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Diagnosed with
cancer seven years ago, Kentucky Republican
state Sen. Dan Seum said doctors gave him a
“nice bottle of Oxycontin,” a legal opioid-based
prescription painkiller that has led to a spike in
overdose deaths throughout the state.
Now, he supports cannabis.
“I threw it in the garbage can and went home and
smoked a joint,” the 77-year-old lawmaker said.
“And guess what? No nausea. I was able to
function. I was going through the (chemo)
treatment.
It was during the legislative session, I did not
miss a day due to nausea from the cancer.”
Seum was one of a bipartisan group of Kentucky
lawmakers on Wednesday who introduced a bill
that would make marijuana legal in Kentucky for
medical purposes only.
The proposal comes weeks after the U.S.
Congress, led by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell,
passed a farm bill that effectively legalised hemp,
a crop that comes from the same plant that
produces marijuana.
Medical marijuana is legal in 33 other states,
according to the National Conference of State
Legislatures.
The Kentucky House of Representatives flipped
to Republican control in 2017, giving the GOP
complete control of state government. Since then,
support for the bill has been growing among the
Republican majority.
That includes GOP Rep. Jason Nemes, who said
he was opposed to medical marijuana when he
first ran for the legislature in 2016 but has since
changed his mind.
“I am quite confident a majority of House
members support it,” Nemes said. “If we get a
vote, the numbers will be above 60.”
An Uphill Battle
But the bill is unlikely to get a vote in the 100-
member state House of Representatives this year.
House Majority Floor Leader John “Bam”
Carney, who controls which bills get called for a
vote to the House floor, said he would not call the
bill for a vote if the state Senate would not
support it. Wednesday, Republican Senate
President Robert Stivers called marijuana “a
gateway drug” and said he had seen no credible
studies showing marijuana had medicinal value
other than “it makes you feel good.”
“We’re going to smoke marijuana and outlaw
tobacco? That’s a little inconsistent to me,”
Stivers said.
The 149-page bill includes regulations for
growers, processors and dispensers.
With the potential to create a $100 million
industry in the state.
The bill still would not let people could smoke
marijuana in public, but the proposal is silent on
what they could do with it in their own homes.
Other restrictions would include a ban on
advertising, requiring plants to be grown indoors
under lock and key and a program to monitor
inventory. Republican Rep. Diane St. One said
the proposal would even let low-income people
grow up to six marijuana plants in their homes,
but only if doctors prescribe it and local law
enforcement agencies know about it.
Seum said he would provide studies on the
medical benefits of marijuana to Republican
Senate leaders, adding he felt no unease about
admitting publicly to smoking marijuana. He also
outed one of his 24 grandchildren, saying she
“partakes” of marijuana’s CBD to treat her
epilepsy.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if my granddaughter was no
longer a criminal,” he said.
https://www.flowsent.com/anti-pot-senator-gets-
cancer-decides-medical-marijuana-not-so-bad/