On Friday, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed a bill that makes his state the 38th to allow medical use of marijuana. Kentucky's Republican-controlled legislature approved the bill about four months after Beshear, a Democrat, issued an executive order aimed at protecting patients who use cannabis purchased in other states from prosecution for possessing and transporting it.
Unlike Beshear's order, which was framed as a conditional pardon for patients who meet certain criteria, the new law, S.B. 47, authorizes production and sale of medical marijuana by state-licensed businesses. But that is not scheduled to happen until 2025, and the law is more restrictive than the governor's order in some ways.
