The “Bluegrass State” of Kentucky is now permitting the prescription of medical grass, but prospective patients won’t be able to get in the doors of a local dispensary just yet.
The development is the long awaited result of state Governor Andy Beshear signing Senate Bill 47 into law in the spring of 2023.
The state’s legal framework makes it mandatory for medical marijuana sold in the state to be grown within its borders. And since legalization just took effect, it will take some time before local cultivators get their operations certified and begin shipping bales of buds out of their doors.
Beshear hopes that distribution will start by the end of the quarter.
“It’s my hope that we’ll see it in Q1 of next year – product on the shelf,” Beshear said in late 2024.
Kentucky’s Office of Medical Cannabis started preparing for dispensaries to pop up last year by holding business license lotteries. A total of 48 were handed out throughout 2024 for the state’s 11 regions.
Kentucky patients will need to get their medical weed from neighbouring states like Illinois and Ohio for the time-being.
Today is the day we worked so hard for! Kentucky is now officially the 38th medical cannabis state!!
If you have already gotten your qualifying condition certified, go to this link and apply for your Ky medical cannabis card! Congratulations! We are on our way to better… pic.twitter.com/HIyFopEqgm— Julie Cantwell (@Jpcantwell10) January 1, 2025
Read more: California weed lovers kick off 2025 with excitement over newly-permitted cannabis cafes
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‘House Bill 420’ could permit adult-use pot down the road
That’s right. It was first introduced at the end of January last year but has not advanced to a vote in the Kentucky House of Representatives just yet.
However, the Republican-dominated state government’s negative stance about the plant has made it uncertain whether an adult-use grass market could come to fruition in the Bluegrass State.
If passed, recreational sales would be permitted to commence on Jul. 1, 2026.
The bill would include expungement provisions for state residents with marijuana convictions on their records.
It would also prohibit employers from discriminating against employees who consume cannabis responsibly when they are not on the job. They could not be penalized for drug tests showing THC in their system if they are not intoxicated during their shift.
rowan@mugglehead.com
