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Kansas Democrats are calling once again to legalize the medical use of marijuana, following an incident just before Christmas in which police raided a hospital room to seize a terminally ill cancer patient’s vape pen and cannabis extract. The patient, 69-year-old Greg Betz, had been hospitalized about three weeks ago with terminal, inoperable cancer, the Wichita Eagle reports.
Betz told columnist Dion Lefller that he’d been “flat on my back” in his bed since being hospitalized, and that his doctor had told him to do “whatever he wants” to help himself feel better, since he’s essentially in hospice care. So Betz had been using the vape pen and sometimes having a little THC paste on bread to help relieve his pain.
But then on December 16, someone on the hospital staff narced when they caught him vaping, took away his stuff, and called the cops. They told Betz the vape pen was a “fire hazard,” although he’s not using oxygen in his room. The cops seized the vape pen, the cartridge, and the THC paste, which definitely does not need to be ignited in order to work. He was schedule for a court date in January, although the misdemeanor possession charges were later dropped.
Monday, Kansas House Democrats tweeted that they plan to pursue legalization of medical marijuana in the coming session, because oh for fuckssake:
House Dems are committed to legalizing access to medical marijuana. #MMJ is available to ill patients in dozens of states across the country.
Kansans shouldn’t be forced to choose between quality, safe health care and abiding by the law.
A medical marijuana bill passed in the Kansas House last year, but it was snuffed out in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Hays Police Chief Don Scheibler sounded almost apologetic in an interview with the Salina Post published Tuesday, saying the officers who charged Betz “weren’t perfect that day. […] They tried to be, and at the end of the day, they got where they needed to be. But I can’t stress enough the problem is not what they did. It’s how we’re supposed to enforce the law in this situation.”
He added that the hospital staff were also following policy and state law, and that the situation had “put law enforcement officers in a very difficult position” because “We want to say this is a law but don’t enforce it. That’s gonna be a challenge for us.”
Sounds like a compelling reason to legalize medical weed, even!
That could be a heavy lift in the coming session, however, since Republicans will control both houses of the Kansas Lege, and a spokesperson for state Senate President Ty Masterson (R) said in October that marijuana law reform “is not a priority” for Masterson, and that any medical marijuana law would need to be narrowly tailored so people wouldn’t sneakily enjoy weed.
Despite Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s support for legalizing medical cannabis and using the revenue to expand Medicaid, the prospects don’t look encouraging. Kansas doesn’t have an initiative process, so there’s no option for voters to force legalization outside the legislative process, as has happened in other states.
Hey, maybe Mr. Betz’s story will suggest to Kansas Republicans that there are better things for police to do than raiding hospitals and taking away hospice patients’ pain relief?
We like to imagine a nicer world, is what we are saying.
[Wichita Eagle / Salina Post / Marijuana Moment]
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