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Voters in more than 100 cities and counties last week approved measures to allow medical cannabis businesses to locate in their communities, marking a clean sweep of all 106 local ordinances on the ballot. All 53 counties and 53 cities with a medical marijuana referendum on the ballot approved the measures, although dozens of local jurisdictions passed bans of medical cannabis businesses before the November election.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed a medical marijuana legalization bill into law in 2023. Under the legislation, city and county local governments have the option to ban the establishment of medical cannabis businesses within their jurisdictions. Although some local governments acted on the issue earlier, more than 100 cities and counties put the question to voters in the general election held last week.
In the 53 counties with a measure to allow medical marijuana businesses on the ballot, about 67% of voters, collectively, voted in favor of the referendum. A similar percentage of voters supporting such measures was recorded in the 53 cities and towns deciding on the issue, Kentucky public radio reported on Wednesday.
“This signals what we have known for a long time, which is that the jury is no longer out on medical cannabis,” Beshear said in a November 7 statement. “Kentuckians want their families, friends and neighbors who have serious medical conditions – like cancer, multiple sclerosis or PTSD – to have safe and affordable access. We are keeping our promise to make sure they will.”
Jim Higdon, co-founder of the Kentucky-based company Cornbread Hemp, agreed, noting the widespread popularity of medical marijuana measures throughout the state.
“The fact that the marijuana went undefeated 106 to zero in every region of Kentucky in deep red Trump counties shows just how powerful this issue is across the board,” Higdon told online cannabis news outlet Marijuana Moment.
Some Kentucky Communities Ban Medical Marijuana Sales
Prior to last week’s election, 20 of Kentucky’s 120 counties had already passed ordinances to prohibit medical marijuana sales. However, many of those counties contain cities that have adopted local measures to allow such operations.
More than 40 cities have also passed ordinances to ban medical marijuana operations. Local leaders in Ferguson, Kentucky, passed an ordinance to legalize medical marijuana before last week’s election.
“It would help people and it’d also, you know, bring in some revenue to the city, which is always good, never a bad thing,” Ferguson Mayor Allen Dobbs told Spectrum News.
Cannabis On The Ballot
Medical marijuana was also popular with voters in last week’s election in Nebraska, where a ballot measure to legalize the medicinal use of cannabis was approved by more than 70% of the electorate. Legalizing recreational marijuana, however, proved unpalatable to voters in three other states that had ballot measures to legalize cannabis for adults on the November ballot. In Florida, a majority of voters (nearly 56%) supported a constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana possession and sales, but the ballot measure failed to garner the 60% supermajority of votes needed to pass.
A similar ballot measure in North Dakota that would have legalized recreational cannabis possession and commercial activity also failed, receiving less than 48% of the vote. In South Dakota, a more modest measure to legalize marijuana possession and home cultivation without authorizing regulated sales of cannabis failed after garnering less than 45% of votes cast.
“}]] All 53 counties and 53 cities in Kentucky with a medical marijuana referendum on the ballot approved the measures in last week’s election. Read More
