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There are 19 states in the U.S. that have legalized recreational cannabis and 37 that permit medical marijuana. But Kansas remains one of the few states that has not meaningfully changed its laws around marijuana.
On Thursday, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed a bill into law that allows Kansans to legally take FDA-approved medicine derived from cannabis. House Bill 2540 amends the definition of “marijuana” in the state’s Uniform Controlled Substances Act to exempt U.S. FDA-approved drugs containing active compounds—most notably THC—in marijuana.
At the moment, there are not many FDA-approved drugs derived from cannabis. The best-known is Epidiolex, a cannabis-derived medication, which contains CBD. Epidiolex is used to treat Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut Syndromes, both serious seizure disorders that mostly affect children. Since CBD is federally legal, the new Kansas law updates the state’s criminal code to mirror federal law. (Marinol is FDA-approved, but it is a synthetic form of THC.)
According to testimony given in front of the Kansas legislature this year by Alexandra Blasi, the executive secretary of the Kansas Board of Pharmacy, the new bill is trying to get ahead of a new pharmaceutical medication containing THC derived from cannabis to treat muscle spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis, which is expected to be approved by the FDA by 2023.
“One key element of this legislation is the advance scheduling of any FDA-approved drug containing THC or other cannabinoids,” said Blasi in a statement about the bill. “There are a number of products currently in clinical trials anticipated to be submitted for FDA approval in the coming months and years.”
Blasi said during testimony earlier this year that if Kansas did not change its laws around marijuana before a new cannabis-derived drug was approved by the FDA, Kansas patients would not have been able to access a legal prescription. The Topeka Capital-Journal first reported the news about Governor Kelly signing the bill into law.
Recent efforts backed by Governor Kelly to legalize medical marijuana in Kansas have failed. However, in 2019, state lawmakers took a baby step with a piece of legislation that’s colloquially referred to as “Claire and Lola’s Law,” which essentially allows for CBD products with 5% THC content. (It’s important to note that the Farm Bill, which federally legalized hemp and CBD, only allows 0.3% THC on a dry-weight basis.) The law’s main purpose was to prevent children from being removed from the home based on parents giving their kids CBD treatments.
But the update to the Kansas Controlled Substances Act did not go far enough for many residents. Kelly Rippel, the cofounder of Kansans For Hemp and founding president of Planted Association For Kansas, two industrial hemp trade associations, has been fighting to legalize medical marijuana in his home state for 10 years.
“Kansas is ground zero for cannabis prohibition,” says Rippel. “This is a disappointing bill that effectively legalized Epidiolex, which is meaningless for us.”
According to Robert Hoban, an attorney who runs Clark Hill’s cannabis division, the legislation is unnecessary and does not solve any real problem.
“This appears to be more of a public policy statement from the Governor, rather than an actual effective piece of legislation–a hollow measure,” says Hoban. “In sum, the Governor’s ‘policy,’ merely promulgates the illicit market in Kansas, ignores the science behind medicinal cannabis patient needs/impact, and boldly asserts that somehow the State of Kansas can approve or disapprove FDA medicines. It’s the same old story with underinformed politicians on this topic.”
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