FRANKFORT, Ky. (ABC36 NEWS NOW) – In March of last year, Gov. Andy Beshear signed into law Senate Bill 47 for the legalization of medical marijuana in the Commonwealth.
Since the passing of the bill businesses that wish to sell medical cannabis have been able to apply for a license. That deadline ended last Saturday (08/31).
During a Team Kentucky Update, Gov. Beshear spoke about the progress of the medical cannabis program.
The program received nearly five thousand applications. Beshear says 88 percent of those were turned in during the last 48 hours before the and a majority of all applications were for dispensaries.
But now that all of the applications are in, dispensary licenses are not the first thing the program will look at.
“Processors and cultivators, that lottery will be earlier than dispensaries,” said Beshear. “That makes sense because you have to grow the product, you have to process the product before you can sell the product in a dispensary. So our first goal is to get through all of the cultivator and processor applications.”
Back in April, Beshear signed House Bill 829 in correlation with the medical cannabis program.
“The bill took the important step of moving up the timeline for cannabis business licensing by a full six months. As a result, the program can begin issuing business licenses in 2024 this year instead of 2025, the year the program was supposed to start operations.”
And while the program still faces some challenges, Beshear says, “The most important thing is that we do it right and that we do it safely. And we create a program that addresses any concerns and then provides this important health care service to our people.”
Lottery dates for each license category will be announced in the coming weeks.
We’ll keep you updated when all license categories are announced.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (ABC36 NEWS NOW) – In March of last year, Gov. Andy Beshear signed into law Senate Bill 47 for the legalization of medical marijuana in the Commonwealth. Since the passing of the bill businesses that wish to sell medical cannabis have been able to apply for a license. That deadline ended last Saturday (08/31). During a Team Kentucky Update,… Read More