Advocates of legalizing cannabis sales formed the Kansas Cannabis Chamber of Commerce to move the political, business, and health debate forward in a state bordered by dispensaries in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Missouri and a renewed push to open markets in Nebraska.
The Kansas House overwhelmingly approved a bill during the 2021 session that would have created a highly regulated medical cannabis structure, but it was not taken up by the Kansas Senate. Gov. Laura Kelly said she would sign medical cannabis legislation if the Legislature sent a package to her desk. Polling last year indicated two-thirds of Kansas adults supported legalization of marijuana sales.
Heather Steppe, president of the new chamber of commerce, said the idea was to model the business organization on the array of groups that formed industry coalitions to press for government policy reform. She said Kansas should avoid being left out in the cold as dozens of states moved on with the development of industries to grow, manufacture, transport, and market cannabis for medicinal benefit.
“We’re not inventing the wheel,” Steppe said. “We’re just trying to, you know, grease it up and get it working for Kansas.”
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