WICHITA, Kansas -- Its seems to be a controversy we weren't expecting this legislative session: marijuana.
As one lawmaker tries to ban a synthetic alternative, another is trying to legalize home grown pot for medical purposes.
Legalizing marijuana has ignited a hot debate across the country. Fourteen states already legalize it for medical purposes and now Wichita representative Gail Finney wants to add Kansas to the list.
"I also went through chemotherapy and I know what it feels like to be really, really sick and throwing up," rep. Gail Finney, a Democrat from Wichita told KSN. "And also with lupus the pain can be really excruciating sometimes."
Finney says she's never smoked pot but personal experience has made her sympathetic to those who do or want to to ease chronic pain.
"There are people that silently use marijuana for their pain and for their comfort and I don't think they should be pentalized for it," said Finney.
So she introduced a bill that would make marijuana legal with a doctor’s prescription.
The idea is not as far out as many may think.
Former Kansas attorney general Bob Stephan has been campaigning to legalize medical marijuana for years.
“When it comes to marijuana, it is treated like some voodoo medicine that should not be recommended by physicians I find this to be absurd," Stephan said back in 2007.
Still as Finney defended her bill, FDA agents raided the Lawrence store “Sacred Journey” known for selling K2, a legal synthetic marijuana.
KSN has learned investigators questioned employees about K2 and the recent outlawed salvia.
Earlier this week the house passed a bill that would outlaw K2. The senate has already passed a similar bill.
But a group out of Lawrence is fighting the ban with a radio campaign.
"Leave your fellow Kansans a legal way to fight pain," one ad says.
Many lawmakers however say they're unconvinced any type of marijuana helps with pain management.
The bill would also require all medical marijuana be grown in Kansas.
Finney admits the bill will be a long shot but she hopes at the very least it will educate lawmakers on what their constituents want.
