LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Governor Andy Beshear passed two executive orders yesterday. One that would allow certain people to use medical marijuana and another that regulates the sale of Delta 8, a substance found in cannabis.
Beshear said, "When that mother sat down next to me on the bleachers and talked to me about her son being through his third IED explosion, and this was the only thing that helped, it is the least that we can do."
Read the first executive order here:
Read the second executive order here:
There are more stories like that mom's story. For Kristin Wilcox, a mom and medical cannabis activist, this was big news.
"We were absolutely thrilled with the governor’s announcement yesterday, he went above and beyond anything that I ever imagined,” says Wilcox.
Her daughter, 16-year-old Shelby, lives with Dravet Syndrome -- a rare and even deadly epileptic condition. In 2016, Wilcox and her daughter tried a medical cannabis trial out of France. She explains it helped her daughter significantly. But she says treatments can cost more than $45,000 a year. She says these orders will allow her daughter to get the medical help she needs.
Wilcox says, "This will allow us to not only improve on this standard medication but get more tailored treatment for her care at much lower prices."
Wilcox was also part of Governor Beshear's Team Kentucky Medical Cannabis Advisory committee – and as the co-founder of Kentucky Moms for Medical Cannabis, she says the work is not over.
She says, "[I] hope that we can get this through the legislature and fill in some of the gaps that this executive order leaves open."
For people who question why these executive orders are significant to families across the state, this mom explains that she hopes they'll never have to know why so many families turn to this alternative form of medicine.
Wilcox says, "We didn't choose this life. We didn't... I never wanted to be, grow up and be an advocate for medical marijuana. We're doing the best with the cards we've been dealt, and I’m proud to do my part. I love my daughter but be grateful that if you don't understand it that you don't have a reason to."
Governor Beshear’s executive orders are set to go into effect January 1, 2023.
