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Louisiana teachers' union concerned about educators' future; Supreme Court hears arguments in Trump immunity case; court issues restraining order against fracking waste-storage facility; landmark NE agreement takes a proactive approach to CO2 pipeline risks.

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Speaker Johnson accuses demonstrating students of getting support from Hamas. TikTok says it'll challenge the ban. And the Supreme Court dives into the gray area between abortion and pregnancy healthcare, and into former President Trump's broad immunity claims.

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The urban-rural death divide is widening for working-age Americans, many home internet connections established for rural students during COVID have been broken, and a new federal rule aims to put the "public" back in public lands.

Push for Medical Marijuana in KY Continues Despite Federal Decision

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Wednesday, August 24, 2016   

FRANKFORT, Ky. - State Sen. Perry Clark says the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's recent decision to continue classifying marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, on par with heroin, won't stop him from trying to pass a medical cannabis bill in Kentucky.

Clark, D-Louisville, introduced legislation during the last three sessions of the General Assembly and said he will try again in 2017 because lawmakers are inching closer to supporting the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

"There is movement within the General Assembly," he said. "There's a lot of tacit approval underneath, but very few people want to come forward."

Clark said he was disappointed in the DEA's decision to keep marijuana illegal for any purpose but saw it coming despite "piles of studies" showing it can be an effectual medication. "The science is out there," he said.

"You know, it's funny when you have a federal bureaucracy alone that makes these kind of calls without going to the elected will of the people," Clark said. "Twenty-five states have done measures with medical cannabis, and they have not done this willy-nilly."

For example, Montana passed its first medical pot initiative in 2004, only to have the Legislature gut it, effectively cutting off the majority of patients. A marijuana initiative is on the ballot there in November. Kate Cholewa, an organizer for the Montana Cannabis Industry Association, took issue with the DEA's claim that there are no adequate safety studies proving marijuana has health benefits.

"Maybe they're not all American studies, but there's an abundance of studies out of Israel, Spain, Japan," she said. "So, it's just simply not true that there's not research demonstrating a medical application for the cannabinoids, and the plant-based ones in marijuana."

The DEA did say it will make it easier to study medical marijuana by allowing more research institutions to grow the plants.

The text of Clark's 2016 bill is online at lrc.ky.gov.


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