Marijuana Moment: Kentucky Lawmakers Consider Proposal To Allow Medical Marijuana Use In Hospitals

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A Kentucky legislative committee is considering a proposal to allow terminally ill patients to use medical marijuana in hospitals.

The legislature’s Interim Joint Committee on Health Services heard testimony about the idea on Thursday, with advocates saying it can allow patients to relieve pain while still being alert and able to communicate with their families during the final days of their lives.

Jim Bartell, who has led efforts to pass such laws in states around the country, testified about the experience of his son, Ryan. The younger Bartell was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer and was first hospitalized in a facility that didn’t allow medical cannabis use before being moved to another hospital that did.

In the first facility he was given fentanyl, which put him to sleep, meaning that “for three weeks we had no communications essentially with Ryan,” Bartell told lawmakers.

After transferring to a hospital in Seattle that did allow medical cannabis use Ryan “woke up the next morning, wide awake, pain free,” he said. “It was a miracle, and immediately he got on his phone, started texting his friends, ‘I’m awake, come and see me.'”

“Those last three weeks, he had 125 visitors—college friends, classmates, high school friends, family, of course,” Bartell said.

Ryan passed away shortly thereafter, but Jim has since led the charge to pass laws in a growing number of states that make it so hospitals have to allow terminally ill patients to use medical marijuana, with certain restrictions. Versions of “Ryan’s Law” have now been adopted in California and 11 other states, Bartell said, with more expected to join in 2027.

He told Kentucky lawmakers that the Trump administration’s move to reschedule medical cannabis has “helped us very much in terms of appealing or avoiding any opposition.”

Rep. Kimberly Poore Moser (R), the co-chair of the panel, said that now that Kentucky has a newly launched medical marijuana program, “we’re sitting up here having a conversation about whether or not we have real barriers to to providing this care in hospitals.”

“We’re going to have to do our homework here, and we will, and we’re going to find out what sorts of barriers there are in Kentucky. We’re hearing in some hospitals that there are not,” she said. “Obviously we’re we’re happy to look into this legislatively, but it sounds like some of the hospitals are adopting this practice anyway, which is good news because patients are able to to get the care that they need, especially in end-of-life situations.”

Bartell replied that the point of Ryan’s Law is to make it so that hospitals need to allow terminally ill patients to use medical cannabis in accordance with state law, and so that other families don’t have to go through the challenges that his experienced with the initial uncooperative facility his son was in.

“Right now any hospital can provide that medication if a patient qualifies and wants it,” Bartell said. “But the problem is that some hospitals don’t want to do that.”

Heather Manus, founder of the Cannabis Nurses Network, also testified at the hearing, telling the committee that “no patient facing the end of life should be forced to choose between receiving healthcare and accessing a legal therapy that helps relieve their suffering.”

“As nurses, we’re guided by compassion. We advocate for dignity, patient autonomy, and the right of every person to receive care that aligns with their values and goals,” she said. “For many terminally ill patients, medical cannabis can provide meaningful relief from pain, nausea, anxiety and insomnia, while allowing them to remain present with the people they love, just as Ryan was at the end of his life.”

Ken Sobel, an attorney and cannabis consultant who helped Bartell write Ryan’s Law, said the reform provides “some assuredness that a patient who’s in Ryan’s condition who maybe only has a few weeks to live isn’t delayed from having the company of his family and friends and receiving the benefits that cannabis provides—in contrast to fentanyl, which has a heavy sedative effect, which deprives that person, that patient, of having any meaningful quality time with his family.”

Lawmakers’ consideration of the proposal to allow marijuana use in hospitals comes as the state’s medical cannabis program is expanding.

Gov. Andy Beshear (D) signed an executive order in June to broaden the list of health conditions that make patients eligible to legally obtain medical cannabis.

But days later, House Majority Whip Jason Nemes (R) asked Attorney General Russell Coleman (R) to ensure that state agencies “not cooperate” with the governor’s marijuana directive, which he called “unlawful.”

“Any organization, any licensee, that participates in this unlawful expansion should be prosecuted,” Nemes said during a legislative committee hearing. “This is not the way forward.”

The governor pushed back, however, saying that the GOP lawmaker exhibited a “complete lack of humanity.”

“It’s helping a lot of people, and I was really surprised to see an attack from one lawmaker who called on the attorney general to prosecute people dying of a terminal illness for securing medical cannabis,” Beshear said. “I mean, that’s a complete lack of humanity. It is really low. I mean, an individual with ALS, you want to prosecute? That is certainly not leadership, and even for that individual, is a new record low.”

After the legislature declined to take him up on a suggestion to expand the qualifying condition list this session, the governor used his authority to make it so patients with 15 additional health disorders—including Parkinson’s disease, HIV/AIDS, sickle cell anemia, fibromyalgia, arthritis and glaucoma—can also be certified for medical marijuana access.

Beshear also last month that he was rescinding an earlier executive order he issued in 2022 through which he offered to provide pardons for any patients who got into trouble for possessing medical cannabis that they purchased at a legal dispensary in a neighboring state.

The more recent executive order on qualifying conditions is a follow up to a medical marijuana legalization law Beshear signed in 2023. The state’s first medical cannabis dispensary opened in December of last year.

The governor in February announced that cannabis gummies are available for purchase in the state’s licensed dispensaries.

Beshear in January said he’s “not satisfied” with the time it’s taken to launch the state’s medical marijuana program—but that he anticipates the pace of patient access would “pick up significantly” in 2026.

In recognition of the delayed implementation, he signed an executive order to waive renewal fees for patients who get their cards so that they don’t get charged again before retailers open.

Beshear separately announced last year that the state had launched a new online directory that lets people see where medical cannabis dispensaries will be opening near them.

He emphasized that the state has been working to deliver access to patients “at the earliest possible date,” and that involved expediting the licensing process. Last year, the governor also ceremonially awarded the commonwealth’s first medical marijuana cards.

During the November 2024 election, Kentucky also saw more than 100 cities and counties approve local ordinances to allow medical cannabis businesses in their jurisdictions. The governor said the election results demonstrate that “the jury is no longer out” on the issue that is clearly supported by voters across partisan and geographical lines.

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