By 2025 medical cannabis will be legal in Kentucky and dispensaries will be installed across the state. Alyssa Erickson, from the Kentucky Medical Cannabis Program shared how medical cannabis will be regulated and implemented at Monday’s Pennyrile Area Development District (PeADD) board meeting.
On July 1, medical cannabis business license applications opened and on January 1, 2025 Kentuckians will be able to apply for medical cannabis cards. Erickson shared the program’s business, patient and local government regulations.
Erickson says businesses can currently apply for four types of licenses including, processor, dispensary, safety compliance facility and cultivation licenses. Production licenses are not yet open, but Erickson says it may be combined with the cultivation or processor licenses.
Erickson also shared that the dispensaries will not resemble recreation dispensaries and will operate like pharmacies. Any form of medical cannabis related business will also be located 1,000 feet from any schools and daycares.
Across Kentucky, the counties have been split into 11 regions and in each region, there will be at least 4 medical cannabis dispensaries. Christian County is in a seven-county region including, Todd, Trigg, Lyon, Caldwell, Hopkins and Muhlenberg Counties.
Erickson says the regions were created based on a drive time analysis to ensure dispensaries are accessible to residents. The regions are subject to change once dispensaries are installed.
Local governments have the ability to opt in or opt out of having a medical cannabis related businesses in its town or county. If governments decide to opt in then they can work to create zoning regulations for the businesses or can just follow state regulations.
Turning toward patient regulations, Erickson says for someone to apply for a medical cannabis card they would need to have one of the qualifying conditions, can not have any disqualifying felony offenses, must be at least 18 years of age, receive written certification from a doctor and be a Kentucky resident.
Erickson says the program is currently focused on the business and dispensary side of the medical cannabis legalization and in the fall, she says they will turn their focus toward helping people be able to apply for digital cannabis cards.
More information about the Kentucky Medical Cannabis Program can be found at kymedcan.ky.gov.
