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TOPEKA — Thousands of Kansans are crossing the Missouri border with medical marijuana cards in hand, and that’s unlikely to change as Kansas lawmakers resist medical legalization in 2025.
Legislators tabled a medical marijuana bill in March and promised to revisit it at the beginning of the 2025 session, which begins Jan. 13. In October, a majority of medical marijuana committee members declined in a 5-4 vote to urge the Legislature to pass a medical marijuana bill.
Anyone can bring a bill for consideration at any time, said Sen. Mike Thompson, a Shawnee Republican, at the October committee meeting.
“But I think it would not be the place of this committee to force upon the Legislature a bill when a large number — well, quite a few of the committee — I think still have a lot of questions,” he said.
Thompson has been cautioning legislators against making a hasty decision for at least two years.
Nearly 2,200 Kansans are medical marijuana patients in Missouri, according to October data obtained through a public records request from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
Outgoing Rep. Dennis “Boog” Highberger, a Lawrence Democrat, pointed to polls that show more than 70% of Kansans favor legalization.
“I think if we don’t come back to this in January, it will just die or get punted until next year,” he said.
Medical and recreational sales in Missouri in 2024 have totaled more than $1.3 billion combined as of October, according to the state’s cannabis patient, caregiver and consumer data. Most of the sales, about $1.1 billion worth, were recreational, which began in February 2023.
