Kentucky’s Governor Andy Beshear enthusiastically handed out the state’s first two medical marijuana licenses at a press conference on Thursday. He was joined by Sam Flynn, Executive Director of the local Office of Medical Cannabis.
This milestone follows medical pot legalization measures coming into force at the beginning of the year. Beshear signed a bill permitting prescription bud in early 2023 but its implementation was delayed until 2025.
A total of 2,200 licenses have received approval, but the state hasn’t seen any dispensaries pop up quite yet. Beshear is ideally hoping to see product become available on pot shop shelves for Kentucky patients by the end of the quarter. More than 48 dispensary licenses have been issued by state regulators thus far.
“Yesterday was a historic day as we issued the first medical cannabis cards in the commonwealth,” Beshear said in an X post on Friday. “This is a major step forward in providing relief to those who need it most.”
Qualifying conditions for receiving one of these cards include cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, PTSD and chronic nausea.
Today I got a first look inside one of the medical marijuana facilities recently authorized by the state of Kentucky. Nurse practitioners at BlueGrass CannaMed are helping people in J-town get certified to use medical cannabis.
Here's how it works.#medicalmarijuana #Kentucky pic.twitter.com/H3HskKmI7q
— Madeline Carter (@WLKYMadeline) February 3, 2025
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Kentucky used to be a major player in illicit cannabis
In the 1970s and 1980s, the state was home to a well-organized crime syndicate known as the Cornbread Mafia. It was one of the most significant illicit growing operations in United States history.
They were renowned for having high-grade marijuana and were said to control about 40 per cent of the supply in the eastern states at one point. Their name was linked to the importance of cornbread in rural Kentucky.
Seventy men were arrested and 182 tons of cannabis were seized when authorities shut the group down in 1989.
Multiple books have been written about this topic, including “Cornbread Mafia: The Outlaws of Central Kentucky” in 2018.
However, even in 2019 the state still had a reputation for illegal cultivations. That year, the DEA said Kentucky had the highest number of plants seized per capita in the entire nation.
Now, the state is currently considering fully opening its cannabis market with the introduction of an adult-use regulatory framework.
“House Bill 240,” which would permit recreational sales, was introduced last year but still has not progressed into the state’s House of Representatives. It could potentially come into force by mid-2026 if it progresses.
rowan@mugglehead.com
