Thoughts from the void: Cannabis and Kentucky

The list of US states that have legalized adult recreational cannabis is available here.

Listed below are articles taken from various media related to the subject of cannabis and Kentucky. Words in italics are the thoughts of your truly at the time of reading the article.

The story is the same globally..minorities, indigenous people, tribals and the poor are the primary targets of marijuana policing...

'Authors wrote, "In every single state, Black people were more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession, and in some states, Black people were up to six, eight, or almost ten times more likely to be arrested. In 31 states, racial disparities were actually larger in 2018 than they were in 2010."

In two states, Montana and Kentucky, African Americans were arrested for marijuana possession violations at more than nine times the rate of Caucasians – the highest disparity in the country. Colorado and Alaska, which legalized adult-use marijuana sales in 2012 and 2014 respectively, possessed the lowest disparity in marijuana possession arrest rates'
https://norml.org/news/2020/04/23/aclu-report-racial-disparities-persist-in-marijuana-possession-arrests

'According to the Blue Grass Law of Kentucky, any "known user of narcotic drugs can be sentenced to the county jail for one year, with the alternative of taking the cure in Lexington."' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

'The cure at Lexington is not designed to keep the addicts comfortable. It starts at one-quarter of a grain of M[orphine] three times a day and lasts eight days-the preparation now used is a synthetic morphine called dolophine. After eight days, you get a send-off shot and go over in "population." There you recieve barbiturates for three nights and that is the end of medication.
For a man with a heavy habit, this is a very rough schedule. I was lucky, in that I came in sick, so the amount given in the cure was sufficient to fix me. The sicker you are and the longer you have been without junk, the smaller the amount necessary to fix you.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

'Any anti-narcotic legislation is considered a good thing by the public. For this reason the field of narcotic legislation has become a testing ground for a type of law new to this country but familiar in police states. In the states of Louisiana and Kentucky it is a crime punishable by imprisonment (La., two to five years; Ky., one year) to be an addict. This is police-state legislation penalizing a condition or state of being. In the Louisiana law, no time or place is specified, nor is the term "addict" defined.'

- Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953

'Passage of the 2018 Farm Bill sparked both sharp nationwide increases in licensing and explosive sales growth for 2019.
The issuance of U.S. hemp-cultivation licenses saw a year-over-year, nationwide increase of 364% (from 3,546 in 2018 to 16,462 in 2019).
Small family farms’ entry to the space drove licensing booms in some states, while other states saw the arrival of Big Agriculture interests in their markets.
In 2019, Tennessee led the trend with 3,200 new licenses, marking more than a 13x increase over its 226 in 2018. Conversely, Montana’s comparatively low 277 licenses in 2019 represent nearly 40,000 acres, averaging a Big Ag-style footprint of more than 144 acres apiece.
Traditional hemp states Colorado, Kentucky, and Oregon continue to lead in cultivation as the nation overall shows a projected 225,000 acres harvested in 2019, more than a 180% increase beyond 78,176 in 2018.'

https://newfrontierdata.com/marijuana-insights/increases-in-state-issued-hemp-licenses/

Cannabit from New Frontier Data...

'The 29 U.S. states having reporting licensed hemp cultivation acreage total nearly half a million acres in combined cultivation land area, a massive increase over 2018’s combined U.S. total of just over 100,000 acres.
Colorado leads the nation in hemp cultivation and processing land area with over 80,000 acres reported.
Oregon, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Montana lead in hemp program expansion efforts.
Tennessee leads in total hemp licenses issued in 2019.
At least 70% of the 2019 U.S. hemp harvest is intended for extract production.
California is poised to be the top-producing hemp state for both conventional and organic production as thousands of acres have already been planted in 2019'

https://newfrontierdata.com/marijuana-insights/hemp-licenses-issued-by-state-2019/

'Walgreens will sell CBD creams, patches and sprays in nearly 1,500 stores in select states, the company told CNBC on Wednesday.

The drugstore chain will sell the cannabis-based products in Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vermont, South Carolina, Illinois and Indiana. Walgreens declined to specify which brands it would carry.

“This product offering is in line with our efforts to provide a wider range of accessible health and wellbeing products and services to best meet the needs and preferences of our customers,” Walgreens spokesman Brian Faith said in an email to CNBC.'
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/27/walgreens-to-sell-cbd-products-in-some-stores.html

Legalize marijuana federally in the US and in Mexico. Plant a border fence containing varieties of marijuana from the US and Mexico as a joint exercise.

'But Carroll also said winning the opioid battle will take more than just a wall.

He toured the Volunteers of America Freedom House which provides comprehensive services for veterans and pregnant women, at the invitation of Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell.

Carroll said the 34 billion federal dollars being spent to fight the opioid crisis are equally balanced between law enforcement and treatment centers such as Freedom House.'
https://www.wdrb.com/news/in-louisville-us-drug-czar-says-border-wall-can-help/article_3008f122-4993-11e9-a3fb-571cce2a949d.html

On Wednesday, lawmakers in Kentucky and West Virginia put forward pieces of legalization legislation, the latest in a growing list of states where the thought of lawmakers even considering full legalization would have been implausible just a couple years ago.

Legislatures in Indiana, Missouri, Texas and Virginia could also vote on legalization bills that have already been introduced this year.'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/marijuana-legalization-bills-already-filed-in-half-a-dozen-red-states-for-2019-sessions/