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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Kentucky held the first of two medical cannabis dispensary lotteries Monday afternoon, cementing where some of the commonwealth’s first businesses selling the product will be located.
Gov. Andy Beshear joined leaders from the State Office of Medical Cannabis at the Kentucky Lottery headquarters in Louisville to announce which companies were randomly awarded dispensary licenses.
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“This is another major step for ensuring Kentuckians suffering from cancer, PTSD, and other serious conditions have access to safe, affordable medical cannabis,” Beshear said.
Kentucky’s 120 counties are broken up into 11 medical cannabis licensing regions across the state. Four licenses were awarded Monday in Regions 3-11.
A second drawing will be held for Regions 1 and 2 on Dec. 16. Six licenses will be awarded in each of those regions, which encompass Louisville, Lexington and their surrounding counties. That makes for a total of 48 dispensaries across the state.
“Our office is focused on access and ensuring that there is access points throughout the commonwealth,” Sam Flynn, executive director of Kentucky’s Office of Medical Cannabis, said Monday. “We determined that this would be the way to provide the shortest amount of drive time for any Kentuckian who is a cardholder suffering with cancer, PTSD, epilepsy or any of the other very serious conditions.”
State rules only allow for one medical cannabis dispensary per county with the exception of Jefferson and Fayette, which can have two.
In some cases, licenses were awarded Monday to multiple applicants who applied for the same county. State leaders said the first applicant chosen can operate in that county and subsequent selectees can now choose to move to another county in their region.
For example, Region 9 encompasses Hardin, Nelson, Larue, Meade, Breckinridge, Grayson, Hart, Green, Adair, Taylor, Marion, and Washington counties. All four applicants selected in the lottery Monday applied to operate a dispensary in Hardin County. Only the first applicant selected will be able to stay and operate in Hardin County, while the others must move to a new county in Region 9.
The state said it will assist with that process and monitor the program as it expands.
“At the end of the day, we want to make sure that people have access and that they’re not driving multiple hours to get their medical cannabis,” Flynn said.
On Dec. 1, medical providers will start issuing written certifications to Kentucky patients, commonly known as medical marijuana cards. The state said 154 Kentucky doctors and APRNs have become authorized medical cannabis practitioners so far, and that number continues to grow weekly.
Medical cannabis officially becomes legal in the commonwealth Jan. 1, but it’s unlikely patients will be able to purchase it in Kentucky on that date. The law requires all of the medical cannabis sold in the state to be cultivated, processed, tested and dispensed in Kentucky.
The state issued more than two dozen licenses to cultivators, safety compliance facilities and processors at the end of October.
“Now, we’ll have to see how quickly some of these businesses move,” Beshear said. “I think they’ll have every incentive to move quickly.”
Reporters pressed Beshear on the timeline for medical cannabis becoming available on the market in Kentucky.
“We’ve just gotten the cultivators and the processors licensed, and I think it’s how quickly they start their operations,” he said. “Over the next month probably, we will have a good idea and timeline. … We know that it’s probably not going to be January 1.”
To see a list of all the business awarded in the lottery Monday, click here.
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”}]] Kentucky held the first of two medical cannabis dispensary lotteries Monday afternoon, cementing where some of the commonwealth’s first businesses selling the product will be located. Read More
