LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The owner of 502 Hemp Wellness Center in Douglass Hills is crossing her fingers.
On Monday, shop owner Dee Dee Taylor will find out if they are selected in the final medical cannabis license lottery.
“Even if I don’t get it, I can at least say that I tried,” Taylor said. “Every day, I have people who come into the store and ask if we’re going to be a part of it. And we say, ‘Well we’re going to try, but it’s a lottery.’ They say, ‘Well it shouldn’t be a lottery, you should already have one.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, I’m not the powers that be.'”
Kentucky is distributing two dispensary licenses for medical marijuana in Jefferson County. The odds for the thousands of applicants statewide are slim.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in October that over 4,000 businesses applied for licenses across the state, but only 48 will be selected.
“There’s just a lot of competition and a lot of big money that came into the state,” Taylor said. “And there’s just a lot of applications to go up against.”
Taylor’s shop sells hemp products that fall under the legal limit of THC. It’s different from medical marijuana, which will become legal Jan. 1, and will require customers to qualify for a medical card.
“We are excited to start working with those dispensaries to see what types of products they are going to offer,” said Jeremy Haysley with the Kentucky Medical Marijuana Center (KYMMC).
Haysley is an anesthesiologist, and for the past month, he’s seen patients at KYMMC in downtown Louisville who are trying to get medical cannabis certification.
“The overarching goal is to provide patients with another avenue to treat these conditions that don’t necessarily include high dose opioids and things like that,” Haysley said.
Physicians are looking to another road to relief. Businesses like 502 Hemp, and thousands of others, are hoping they can be a part of it.
