Kentuckians May Have Been Duped Here

Smuggler

Smuggler

Active Member
A post was made regarding KY law changes, that post is seemingly questionable. I did a little research and found this on the site that was referenced. There is a stark difference in stories and I will leave it to you all to decide why.

Here is what I found on the Marijuana Policy Project found at http://www.mpp.org/states/kentucky/

I really don’t know what the story is on this. S

To Quote MPP:
Kentucky maintains same old broken marijuana laws

Last update: February 14, 2011
On January 4, the Kentucky Legislature returned for its 2011 session. The Task Force on the Penal Code and Controlled Substances Act, a committee created to find cheaper alternatives to incarceration, prepared an excellent 100-page sentencing reform bill, based on its report. The bill would reduce penalties for low level offenses for drug possession and trafficking to probation and addiction treatment, rather than prison. Currently, one fourth of Kentucky’s prison population is serving time for drug-related offenses. Unfortunately, the February 14 deadline for stand-alone bills passed without the legislation being sponsored.

Learn more about Kentucky's marijuana laws
Dubiously, Kentucky is tied for third in the nation in marijuana arrest rates and marijuana penalties for possession of one ounce (which carries up to one year in jail along with a $500 fine). In 2007, Kentucky arrested a whopping 20,329 people for marijuana offenses. Please write to your legislators and ask them to stop arresting people for possessing marijuana, or to end marijuana prohibition entirely. You can learn more about Kentucky’s marijuana laws by reading this report by economist Jon Gettman, Ph.D.

Medical Marijuana
Sadly, not one Kentucky legislator came forward in 2011 on behalf of sick and dying patients who use medical marijuana to introduce a stand-alone bill to protect them. Please send your state legislators an e-mail today letting them know that you still hope to see legislative language introduced in 2011 that will provide medical marijuana patients with the protections they need. In addition to writing your legislators, you can find out how else you can help here.

If you are supportive and are a medical professional, a seriously ill patient who might benefit from medical marijuana, a law enforcement official, a clergy member, or a member of the legal community, or you know someone else that is, please e-mail state@mpp.org to see how you can be of special help. Please include your address or nine-digit ZIP code.
 
Smuggler

Smuggler

Active Member
Having not seen any other reference in the media to the law changes, I started looking into this further. I checked out the NORML site and they had nothing on it. I emailed them for clarification and they never got back to me. I felt that if a bill this substantial had passed, they surely would have known about it and celebrated its victory.

I read the page on MPP that I provided a link to and it said “The bill would reduce penalties for low level offenses for drug possession and trafficking to probation and addiction treatment, rather than prison. Currently, one fourth of Kentucky’s prison population is serving time for drug-related offenses. Unfortunately, the February 14 deadline for stand-alone bills passed without the legislation being sponsored.” That meant that it couldn’t have been up for a vote because all bills need sponsorship to go up for vote in KY.

Knowing that a Democratic majority house & senate was voted out and more conservative members took their place, I didn’t see the state becoming more liberal. In fact, the MPP stated “Sadly, not one Kentucky legislator came forward in 2011 on behalf of sick and dying patients who use medical marijuana to introduce a stand-alone bill to protect them.”

At first I didn’t find anything on the MPP site about this bill. I will also add that MPP is the only site that I have seen anything on this bill. I have no experience with MPP and don’t know anything about them so I will continue to check further into this bill with other sources.

I’ll eat my words here and say that after looking harder into this, I did find the following on the site you sited. I found it at this link. http://www.mpp.org/states/kentucky/alerts/kentucky-cuts-drug-sentences.html

"Kentucky has become the latest state to enact sentencing reforms in a bid to rein in skyrocketing corrections costs. Gov. Steve Beshear (D) last Thursday signed into law HB 463, a comprehensive corrections bill that will save the state millions of dollars a year, in part by sentencing drug possession offenders to probation instead of prison.

The new law lowers possession of less than an ounce of marijuana from a Class A misdemeanor worth up to a year in jail to a Class B misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of 45 days in jail, if any jail sentence is imposed."

I admit that I didn't see it at first and that I erred on the side of caution. Sorry for any confusion or misunderstanding this may have caused. S
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top