Governor Beshear is looking into the number of Kentuckians that have marijuana possession convictions. This comes a week after President Biden requested governors to issue pardons for people convicted of state marijuana offenses.
During his Team Kentucky briefing this week, Governor Beshear said this move by the president caught them off guard.
“I will tell you as a governor, I had no idea this was coming. So, we have taken the last seven days to look at what it means federally, and then to look at the correlating state statutes.”
The governor said he must have more details because of how the request from the president was worded.
“It only applies to the simple possession of marijuana, not other drug related charges. So nothing about conspiracy, distribution- what we would call trafficking in Kentucky, possession with the intent to distribute or any other charge related to marijuana.”
This comes at a time when Governor Beshear is looking to the possibilities of executive action to legalize medical cannabis in the commonwealth.
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