Kentucky lawmakers are back to the drawing board once again in hopes of drafting a scheme to legalize marijuana – this time suggesting that retail weed could be a salvation’s wing for the state’s pension system.
Republican state Senator Dan Seum, whose son, Dan Seum Jr., was at the heart of recent a lawsuit against the state calling for the legalization of medical marijuana, says he soon plans to introduce a proposal designed to bring a fully legal cannabis industry to the Bluegrass States.
The goal of the measure is simple – to allow legal weed to generate millions of dollars each year to “pay down estimated unfunded liabilities…in the state pension systems,” reports Spectrum News.
“I think desperation might help — we need a billion dollars (a year),” Seum told the news source.
“I’m looking at adult use, because that’s where the money is at” he added.
Lawmakers are set to reveal their pension reform proposals in the next couple of weeks, but it will likely be next year before the issue takes center stage.
Seum said he will attempt to convince his colleagues that bringing an end to marijuana prohibition, and thereby establishing a fully legal cannabis market for adults 21 and over would generate the funds necessary to begin chipping away at the pension problem.
Similar to how Kentuckians have benefited from the employment and financial opportunities brought forth by the whole of the bourbon industry, Seum believes legal marijuana would do much of the same.
Unfortunately, Seum is going to have to do a whole lot of convincing before the concept of recreational marijuana is appreciated in the halls of the state’s general assembly.
For the past several years, the state has struggled with the idea of even putting a comprehensive medical marijuana law on the books due to concerns that it might lead to a community of lawlessness.
Even if state lawmakers do side with Seum’s adult use proposal, there is not much of a chance of it becoming law.
Although Governor Matt Bevin has given some indication that he would support a medical marijuana program, he recently told WHAS Radio that recreational marijuana “is not going to happen while I’m governor.”
