When it comes to marijuana, Kansas is a red state in an increasingly green country.
Three of its neighbors — Colorado, Oklahoma and Missouri — have legalized some form of the drug in recent years. Yet Kansas remains one of four states in the country without a comprehensive medical or recreational marijuana program.
That’s not for lack of trying. This spring, the Legislature considered a bill allowing patients and caregivers to possess CBD — one chemical in marijuana — containing small amounts of THC, a psychoactive component of the plant. …
But law enforcement officers representing several of the state’s agencies and professional organizations testified against it. The bill never made it to a vote.
“I only ask that you give deference to the experience, to the opinions of the law enforcement community,” said Kirk Thompson, director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the top law enforcement agency in the state. “We’ve seen the negative side of this issue.”
The agency denied requests for an interview with Thompson and didn’t answer emailed questions about its marijuana enforcement strategy. But Thompson’s statement echoes the position of many of the state’s law enforcement agencies and organizations.
They argue that even legalization of medical marijuana would increase car accidents and violent crime and make it easier for foreign drug cartels to move weed onto the black market.
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