To deal with an explosion in the number of Kentucky newborns exposed to dangerous, addictive drugs by their pregnant mothers, lawmakers this year added a section to House Bill 1, a measure that otherwise streamlines the foster care system. The section -- which becomes law in July, along with the rest of HB 1 - -- expands the definition of child abuse in Kentucky to include neonatal abstinence syndrome. Babies born with NAS go through withdrawal while they are still in the hospital. They can experience trembling, excessive high-pitched crying, seizures, vomiting and diarrhea. Some have more serious problems, such as heart defects. [continues 545 words]
Amy Stalker says she had more control over her own health when she lived in Colorado, where marijuana can be legally prescribed as medicine. Stalker now lives in Kentucky, where medical use of marijuana is banned. A judge dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday against Gov. Matt Bevin and Attorney General Andy Beshear that called for the legalization of medical marijuana in Kentucky. In his opinion, Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate wrote that the Kentucky Supreme Court clearly established in a 2000 decision involving actor and hemp activist Woody Harrelson that the General Assembly has the sole discretion under the state Constitution to regulate the use of cannabis in the state. The courts do not have the authority to intervene, Wingate wrote. [continues 450 words]
Other states allow medical marijuana. Judge asks why Kentucky shouldn't join them. A Franklin Circuit Court judge on Tuesday asked attorneys for the state why Kentucky should not make medical marijuana available to patients who believe it might help them, given that "we've pretty much decriminalized" the drug around much of the nation and even in parts of the state. Judge Thomas Wingate is considering motions by Gov. Matt Bevin and Attorney General Andy Beshear to dismiss a lawsuit filed in June by three Kentuckians who want the legal right to use marijuana as medicine in the state where they live. Wingate said he expects to hand down a decision on the motion in the near future. [continues 649 words]
Gov. Matt Bevin and Attorney General Andy Beshear want a Frankfort judge to dismiss a lawsuit calling for the legalization of medical marijuana in Kentucky. In a motion filed Monday in Franklin Circuit Court, Bevin's attorneys said medical marijuana is a "political question" that should be decided by the General Assembly, not a judge. "Since at least 2014, the legislature has debated bills advocating for the lawful use of medicinal marijuana in every legislative session," attorney Barry Dunn wrote for the governor's office. "The General Assembly will consider legalizing medicinal marijuana again in the 2018 session. It is solely within the General Assembly's constitutional powers to determine whether to make medicinal marijuana lawful." [continues 534 words]
Measures Target Meth Ingredients FRANKFORT - An estimated 1,500 Eastern Kentuckians poured into the Farnham Dudgeon Civic Center yesterday to rally for pending legislation that could crack down on illegal drug use. The crowd, which arrived in Frankfort in school buses, church vans and caravans of cars, cheered as elected leaders called for passage of Senate Bill 63 and House Bill 343. "It's a new day in Kentucky," said U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, who founded and has provided $24 million in federal money for Operation UNITE, an anti-drug organization in 29 counties in southern and eastern Kentucky. "We're not going to stand by and let drug dealers control our communities any longer." [continues 217 words]
Privatization For Long-Awaited Elliott Complex Debated SANDY HOOK - The unlovely state prison being finished in Elliott County has the odd look of a suburban high school surrounded by double rows of razor wire. The Corrections Department spent most of a decade planning it. Taxpayers gave $92 million to build it. Local residents, grappling with some of the state's worst unemployment, look forward to working in it. Now, belatedly, comes the debate over whether Kentucky needs it. Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration says the 961-bed prison -- with space for an 800-bed addition -- won't be necessary for years. The current 14-prison system is sufficient, as more state inmates are steered into county jails, or left in their communities in drug courts or halfway houses, which are cheaper. [continues 1397 words]
State Is Strapped But Grants Are Ending FRANKFORT - Kentucky's drug courts, which provide treatment rather than prison for non-violent criminals addicted to drugs, are running out of money. Even as the alternative courts gain credibility, the federal grants that launched them in more than half of the state's counties since 1993 are starting to expire. Gov.-elect Ernie Fletcher pledged in his campaign to expand drug courts to every county. But to maintain existing courts and allow for modest growth, he needs to find about $15 million in the two-year budget proposal he offers in January, court officials said. Paying for drug courts in all 120 counties could increase that to at least $18 million, they said. [continues 871 words]
Republican Thinks He Can Bring Needed Changes Ernie Fletcher needles his opponent, Ben Chandler, for being a "career politician," but his own political career is doing just fine. Fletcher, the Republican nominee for governor, graduated from the state legislature to Congress in 1998. He is halfway through his third term representing Central Kentucky in the U.S. House of Representatives. In a recent interview, Fletcher acknowledged that Republicans recruited him into the race for governor. The GOP is eager to end three decades of Democratic control of the Governor's Mansion, and to many, Fletcher had the look of a winner. He didn't even draw a serious Democratic opponent in his last election. [continues 2206 words]
FRANKFORT - Prison sentences in Kentucky, which have grown longer for years, are expected to shrink in coming months as the state government runs short on cash. The Kentucky Parole Board adopted a risk-assessment scoring system in January that makes it possible to grant parole to nearly half of the eligible inmates, up from one-third of the eligible inmates just a year ago. Also, the General Assembly this month approved a bill to let prisoners work off part of their sentences through community service, possibly saving the Corrections Department more than $5 million a year. [continues 796 words]
More Felons Set Free Early FRANKFORT - Attorney General Ben Chandler sued Gov. Paul Patton yesterday in a failed effort to block the early release of 328 more prisoners, part of Patton's response to the state budget crunch. Franklin Circuit Judge William Graham denied Chandler's request to stop the release of Class D felons, already under way during the 9 a.m. hearing. But Graham agreed to consider arguments against future releases after legal briefs are filed next month. Although the releases outrage many police, prosecutors and crime-victim groups, some criminal-justice experts suggest the releases look more threatening than they are, as most of the felons would have finished their sentences later this year, anyway. [continues 706 words]
Budget Shortfall Means Even Fewer Lawyers PARIS - Public defender Rodney Barnes whisks clients into a windowless jury room to explain their options. He speaks quickly and uses short words. He doesn't have time to repeat himself. In 2000, Barnes handled about 484 criminal cases, a workload at least 20 percent heavier than legal experts recommend. This year, Barnes expects to carry about 550 cases in six counties, from drunken driving to murder. Sometimes two or three trials are scheduled for the same day. [continues 1847 words]
FRANKFORT -- Kentucky State Police could review confidential prescription records and identify people who buy OxyContin, under a bill endorsed yesterday by Gov. Paul Patton. Patton and his OxyContin Task Force announced their strategy to fight the abuse of OxyContin, a powerful and addictive painkiller. Local and state police have charged hundreds of people with crimes tied to OxyContin, including theft and illegal sale and possession. Many of those arrests came in Eastern Kentucky. Medical examiners recently linked oxycodone -- the ingredient in OxyContin - -- to 69 deaths in Kentucky over 17 months. [continues 312 words]
Frustrated judges are postponing driving-under-the-influence trials -- and in at least one county, dismissing cases -- because it takes too long for blood tests to return from the Kentucky State Police laboratories. "The judges in my counties have read the riot act to prosecutors because it has taken six to eight weeks to get blood samples back and schedule a trial," said Andrew Coiner, a lawyer who specializes in DUI defense in Western Kentucky. Interviews with a dozen prosecutors, from Calloway to Fayette to Rowan counties, confirm similar tensions across the state. [continues 912 words]
FRANKFORT -- Kentucky should make it harder for people to get OxyContin, a prescription pain killer, the Kentucky State Police commissioner said yesterday. Gov. Paul Patton's OxyContin abuse task force submitted a list of proposals to the interim Judiciary Committee. The task force wants legislators to change several laws when they convene in January. The proposals include: requiring photo identification or a thumbprint before an OxyContin prescription is filled; prohibiting emergency rooms from distributing more than three days worth of OxyContin; and ordering restitution from people who use Medicaid to buy the drug illegally. [continues 161 words]
Controversy, Security Requirements Make Schools Leery Universities in the state are reluctant to grow and study industrial hemp, despite a new law meant to encourage them. Without academic interest, the effort to return hemp to Kentucky's farms possibly as a lucrative replacement for tobacco could end in failure. None of the college agriculture programs have applied to the Council on Postsecondary Education to plant hemp as allowed under House Bill 100, which Gov. Paul Patton signed into law March 20. Hemp is an otherwise illegal crop because of its similarity to marijuana. [continues 783 words]
FRANKFORT - The tall, skinny hemp plant, a cousin to marijuana that is used to produce a wide variety of products, is poised to return to Kentucky soil. The Senate voted 26-11 yesterday for House Bill 100, which would permit Kentucky's college agricultural programs to grow industrial hemp and study its potential value as a crop. Depending on the results of those studies, hemp could return to private farms and offer an alternative for beleaguered tobacco farmers, supporters said. So far, no college has expressed an interest in growing hemp, but that could change if the bill becomes law, said George Graves, spokesman for the Council on Postsecondary Education. [continues 635 words]
Fayette Program To Begin In Late January Lexington teen-agers whose addictions drive them to commit crimes soon could have an option other than jail. The judges of Fayette District Court plan to launch a juvenile drug court in late January. Like adult drug court, the program will offer youths intensive supervision, education and drug and alcohol counseling. Graduates would avoid a 45- to 90-day stint at the juvenile detention center on Cisco Road, or a longer sentence at a state home or boot camp. [continues 557 words]
One State University Could Cultivate It Experimentally FRANKFORT, Ky. - The state House yesterday voted for the return of industrial hemp to Kentucky, but only as a strictly regulated experiment at a public university. Originally, House Majority Whip Joe Barrows wanted the General Assembly to allow farmers to grow hemp statewide as a partial replacement for tobacco, which is losing its value as a cash crop. The stalks, seeds and oil of hemp grown in other countries are used in a variety of products. [continues 584 words]
Plant Touted As Tobacco Replacement, But Some Wary Of Link With Marijuana FRANKFORT Industrial hemp, a cousin to marijuana but without that plant's psychedelic kick, might return to Kentucky farms after an absence of about 60 years. House Bill 855, filed last week, would legalize industrial hemp farming and establish a continuing study of the crop's agricultural potential. Critics, including Gov. Paul Patton and the Kentucky State Police, oppose the production of hemp because of its close association with marijuana. But hemp supporters say tobacco's rapid downfall has left Kentucky with few other farming options. [continues 790 words]
Ketchum Advertising of Pittsburgh thought it had some clever ideas last summer when it unveiled a light-hearted ad campaign linking Kentucky Hemp Beer to illegal marijuana use, with psychedelic patterns and naughty messages like “Undetectable to police dogs.” But Kentucky Hemp Beer -- owned by Lexington Brewing Co. – wasn’t laughing, especially after stories about the ads appeared in publications including The Wall Street Journal, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal and Ad Age magazine. In a lawsuit filed May 28 in U.S. District Court, the local brewer said Ketchum Advertising never had its permission to create the promotional campaign in the first place, much less to publicize the ads – which prompted criticism of the beer company -- on a national level. [continues 452 words]
