Politics
Trump’s Federal Marijuana Rescheduling Move Makes It Easier To Legalize Medical Access In Kansas, Democratic Governor Candidate Says
The Democratic candidate running for governor of Kansas says the Trump administration’s move to federally reclassify marijuana eases the path toward legalizing medical cannabis for patients in the state.
“I think there’s some things that look a little differently now with the federal-level rescheduling,” Cindy Holscher said in an interview published by KOAM-TV on Thursday. “That does create a little bit of a difference of attitude among some of my peers.”
While the Democrat, who currently serves in the state Senate, said that the GOP president’s national cannabis reform is making some of her Republican colleagues in the legislature reconsider their opposition, she said her opponent in the governor’s race is to blame for continuing to block medical marijuana access in Kansas.
“I worked on this issue for several years. Actually, got it passed in the House in terms of getting them on board. There was a lot of education that had to be done, but we got it passed in the House,” Holscher said. “But Ty Masterson blocked it in the Senate.”
Senate President Ty Masterson (R), the GOP nominee for governor, has taken an inconsistent stance on cannabis over the years, at some points appearing open to considering it but at other times expressing opposition—but never allowing legalization legislation to advance in his chamber.
In any case, his Democratic opponent said that Kansas is more ready now than ever to enact cannabis reform in light of federal moves on the issue.
“I do feel there’s some difference now, though, with federal rescheduling,” she said. “Additionally, we already have people out there working to educate my peers in the House and the Senate.”
Holscher’s latest comments come as a new poll shows that a majority of Kansans support legalizing marijuana for both recreational and medical uses.
The latest edition of the annual Kansas Speaks survey, conducted by Fort Hays State University’s Docking Institute of Public Affairs, shows that Kansans back legalization of recreational marijuana by a margin of 58 percent to 21 percent—including majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents.
Support for legalizing medical cannabis is even stronger, at 65 percent to 15 percent.
Holscher recently discussed Kansans’ support for marijuana reform in a separate interview.
“I believe close to 70 percent of the population is in favor of legalization, but you get a few people once in a while who will say, ‘Well, we don’t want to bring that here,'” she said. “My response: It’s already here. If you drive along state line in Johnson County, you drive along the border on the southern edge to Oklahoma, and you see the dispensaries—there’s Kansas plates there. So it’s already here.”
“But what’s happening is we aren’t getting the revenue for it, and we aren’t getting our guardrails in place. We need to do that,” Holscher said. “The revenue that’s projected to come in could help us do things like better funding public education in terms of special ed, could help us in terms of free lunches for kids—making that part of the day. You know there are things that we could do with that money to help build up our critical infrastructure and be better focused on our people.”
Asked how she would get cannabis reform through a Republican-controlled legislature, Holscher said she and allies succeeded in passing a medical cannabis bill through the state House of Representatives in 2021 that went on to die in the Senate—putting blame for the ultimate defeat on Masterson.
“You know, I got it passed in the House a few years ago. Guess who stopped it in the Senate? Ty Masterson,” she said. “The things that people want, the things that people support, he has been stopping.”
Masterson, for his part, said in 2023 that was open to a discussion about a limited medical marijuana program. But in 2024, he appeared less welcoming to the idea, calling medical cannabis legalization a “nonstarter,” suggesting the policy change would lead to a surge in “gang activity” and put kids at risk.
Incumbent Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) said last year that it’s time for lawmakers in the state to finally legalize medical marijuana.
After the House of Representatives passed a medical cannabis bill in 2021, it stalled out in the Senate. And while the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee held numerous hearings on the issue, it voted in 2024 to table a limited medical marijuana pilot program bill.
A later effort to revive the medical cannabis bill on the Senate floor ultimately fell short. That measure was filed about a month after the House rejected a Democratic lawmaker’s amendment to a broader drug scheduling bill that would have removed marijuana entirely from the state’s controlled substances law, effectively legalizing it.
In 2024, meanwhile, a state legislative panel voted against a proposed recommendation that lawmakers legalize medical cannabis in 2025.
The legislature’s Special Committee on Medical Marijuana, charged with consideration of possible pathways for medical cannabis reform, said legalizing medical marijuana was premature and that lawmakers should first wait to see how federal rescheduling and other reform efforts unfold.
Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.
