Most Kentuckians Favor Legal Hemp, Medical Marijuana: Poll

Most Kentuckians favor the legalization of industrial hemp and medical marijuana, according to a new poll. Fewer than half, however, want to legalize cannabis overall, if the poll is to be believed.

Industrial hemp legalization was favored by an overwhelming 65 percent of those polled, a Louisville Courier-Journal Bluegrass Poll revealed on Saturday, reports UPI. This actually makes recent moves by U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) look politically savvy. Can you believe it — for once, ol’ Turtle McConnell is doing something besides reacting and pandering and saying stupid shit!

Sixty percent of those polled are in favor of legalizing marijuana for medical purposes. Currently, neither medical marijuana nor hemp are legal in Kentucky. The poll was based on surveys taken February 19-21 with 616 registered Kentucky voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

A bill to legalize and regulate industrial hemp production has now passed the state Senate and is scheduled for a hearing this week in a House committee. Medical marijuana has not yet had a hearing in the Legislature.

“I hope the governor and Kentucky’s state House members get the message loud and clear,” said Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, author of the hemp bill. “Kentuckians want jobs and they believe industrial hemp will bring them to Kentucky.”

According to the bill’s supporters, legalizing hemp production would result in thousands of jobs growing and processing the crop, if Kentucky becomes one of the first in the U.S. to allow it.

Kentucky would become the ninth U.S. state to legalize hemp production if the Senate bill passes, according to Vote Hemp, a national group backing hemp legalization.

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, though, didn’t waste any time bringing spurious “drug” arguments into the hemp debate.

“We have a tremendous drug problem here in Kentucky, and I want to make sure that we don’t do anything that will increase that drug problem,” said Beshear, whose timorous caution is apparently in danger of overwhelming the last atrophying traces of leadership within him.

Another Senate bill — which would allow doctors to authorize medical marijuana to relieve nausea and pain associated with cancer and HIV/AIDS treatments — was never heard last year.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Whitney Westerfield — a cluelessgood-old-boy Republican from Hopkinsville — said the medical marijuana won’t be getting a hearing this year, either, because he’s personally against it.

Evidently Whitney forgot to check with his voters, and it apparently also slipped his mind that he’s supposed to be, you know, representing them and stuff. When will Kentuckians vote this embarrassing ass-clown out of office?