FRANKFORT, Ky. — Supporters of medical marijuana have renewed hope the legislation will pass this year in Kentucky as a bill creating the program passed its first legislative hurdle Thursday.

The House Judiciary Committee passed House Bill 136, which is sponsored by Rep. Jason Nemes (R-Louisville).

“I think the debate is over with respect to whether or not medical cannabis helps people,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anybody, even the staunchest opponents, that say that it doesn’t help some people.”

Eric Crawford has been lobbying for medical marijuana at the Kentucky State Capitol for years.

“Just trying to get the legislators to listen to us, tell our story, and tell the facts; just tell the truth,” he said.

Crawford was paralyzed in a car accident in 1994, and even though it’s illegal, he uses marijuana to manage his pain.

“It helps me be a better husband, a son, and a friend than the pharmaceutical route,” Crawford told the committee. “There’s not one of you on this committee that would surely think I’d be better off on opioids. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure that out.”

The bill only includes four conditions that qualify for medical marijuana: cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and chronic pain.

Nemes said a fifth condition, post-traumatic stress disorder, could be added on the floor.

“That’s more restrictive than I want, but it’s so important of an issue that we need to get it passed,” he said.

Only one lawmaker on the House Judiciary Committee voted against it: Rep. Kim Moser (R-Taylor Mill).    

“I think there are some questions that we still need to answer,” she said.

The House passed medical marijuana in 2020, but it stalled in the Senate just as COVID-19 took hold.

Nemes said more people in the other chamber are coming around to it.

“I think as people talk more to their constituents, they are more open to the issue,” he said. “And they see many other states, including very conservative and southern states, adopt medical marijuana and the world doesn’t end; that opens more eyes that weren’t open before.”

Nemes said the support of Sen. Whitney Westerfield (R-Hopkinsville) is another crucial step as far as getting it through the Senate. Westerfield chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and until this week, he opposed medical marijuana. He tweeted his resounding support of Nemes’ bill earlier this week.

Nemes said he expects the medical marijuana bill to hit the House floor next week, and then it’s in the Senate’s hands.