Kentucky receives nearly 5,000 applications for medical cannabis business licenses

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Nearly 5,000 medical cannabis business license applications have been submitted to Kentucky’s Office of Medical Cannabis, with 88% of them arriving in the last four days of the licensing period, Gov. Andy Beshear announced at a Sept. 5 news conference. The deadline to submit an application was Aug. 31.

“Today, the results are clear,” Beshear said. “There is incredible, if not overwhelming interest, especially among Kentuckians. That’s proof that the program is going to meet its goals. We are just going to have some challenges getting through those total number of applications, doing it right, ensuring that the process is fair, getting through the lotteries and then getting up and running.”

Among the 4,998 applications, there were 4,076 dispensary applications, 584 cultivator applications, 333 processor applications and five safety compliance facility applications.

Besehear said the staff to review these applications had already been increased from nine to 29 people and that they would be adding an additional 20 employees to process the applications.

“Despite the last-minute influx of applications, the Office of Medical Cannabis is currently reviewing these applications, and we remain on track to issue these licenses in 2024,” he said.

Asked about the risk of “application stacking,” when companies submit multiple applications under different names to increase their chances of being picked in the lottery, Beshear said the system has been set up to prevent these types of harms.

“It’s hard to identify yet whether it’s happened, how much it’s happened, because so many applications came in right at the end, a big flood of them, but I do believe that the system is set up and we’re bringing in extra people to prevent that from happening,” he said.

Beshear said the goal is to complete the first lottery in October and that that date would be announced in the coming weeks. He said the processors and cultivators’ lottery will be held earlier than the lottery for dispensaries. The state has capped initial license availability at 16 cultivators, 10 processors and 48 dispensaries.

Local governments can still opt out

Medical cannabis becomes legal in Kentucky on Jan. 1, but local governments have until Dec. 31 to enact an ordinance prohibiting the businesses. Local governments have the option to opt in and enact additional zoning regulations, opt out and not allow the businesses altogether or put the question of whether to allow it or not to the voters. The can also take no action on the matter and be automatically included in the program.

“According to the Office of Medical Cannabis, which has been tracking local government activity on the issue, 17 counties and 31 cities have voted to prohibit all medical cannabis businesses in their jurisdiction,” according to a Kentucky Association of Counties newsletter. “Click here to view a list of local governments that have opted-out. The question of whether to allow cannabis business operations will appear on the ballot this November for voters in 51 counties and 50 cities. Click here to view a list of those local governments.”