Kentucky Awards Medical Marijuana Business Licenses
The Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis has announced the winners of its medical marijuana cultivator and processor licenses, with 26 businesses selected from a pool of applicants. The licenses were awarded through a lottery process, which was managed by the Office of Medical Cannabis and the Kentucky Lottery Corporation.
Among the winners are two businesses from Jefferson County, 1248 KYP LLC and Synapse Remedies LLC. The selected businesses will be required to pay a licensing fee within 15 days to secure their licenses.
The medical marijuana program in Kentucky is set to launch on January 1, 2025, and will feature 48 dispensaries, with each county receiving one dispensary, except for Jefferson and Fayette counties, which will receive two each.
The cultivators and processors selected for licenses will be responsible for growing and processing medical marijuana products, respectively. There are four tiers of cultivators in Kentucky, with the initial licensing phase focusing on the first three tiers. The tiers are based on the amount of space each business is permitted to grow.
The processors, on the other hand, will be responsible for processing raw plant material into medical marijuana products, which they can then sell or transfer to other medical marijuana businesses in the state.
The Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis has stated that the lottery process was necessary due to the high number of applicants exceeding the number of available licenses. The agency has also announced that a date for the dispensary licenses lottery will be announced during a Team Kentucky update on Thursday.
The medical marijuana program in Kentucky was established after the Kentucky legislature passed a bill in 2023 legalizing medical cannabis in the commonwealth. The program aims to provide patients with access to medical marijuana products for medicinal purposes.
