Kentucky Governor Says Medical Marijuana Sales Should Start By The End Of This Year

The governor of Kentucky is predicting that patients in the state should be
able to access medical cannabis in legal dispensaries by the end of 2025.

“The medical marijuana program is moving forward,” Gov. Andy Beshear (D)
said at a press briefing on Thursday.

“I think most of our dispensaries now have their home address [and] are set
about where they’re going to be, but [for] some of the inspections that
have to happen in dispensaries, they have to have product that’s there,” he
said. “So I do believe they’ll be operating before the end of the year.”

The governor talked about “challenges” the program’s launch has faced due
to how initially passed legalization legislation proposed to launch “the
licensing and the operations really all at the same time.” A subsequently
enacted bill allowed a licensing lottery to be moved up six months, however.

“Then we could make sure that people applied for and got the licenses,” he
said. “Originally, that was going to happen January 1 of this year. Imagine
us doing all of those pieces instead of an idea where we could have created
the cultivators first and started growing the product, the processors at
the same time and then the dispensaries. Really the dispensaries are
waiting on the other two. That’s one that’s a lot less work.”

“I think everybody is working as hard and as fast as they can, but they’re
wanting to make sure they do it right as well,” Beshear said.

The comments come roughly a month after the governor announced that the state’s
first medical cannabis dispensary has officially been approved for
operations, calling it “another step forward as we work to ensure
Kentuckians with serious medical conditions have access to the medicine
they need and deserve.

He previously touted an earlier “milestone” in the state’s forthcoming
medical marijuana program, with a licensed cultivator producing “the first
medical cannabis inventory in Kentucky history.”

Beshear’s office has said that other cannabis licensees, including
processors and testing labs, are expected to become operational soon.

In July, Beshear sent a letter to President Donald Trump, urging him to
reject congressional spending bill provisions that would prevent the
Justice Department from rescheduling marijuana.

In the letter to the president, he emphasized that a pending proposal to
move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled
Substances Act (CSA) is something “you supported in your presidential
campaign.”

“That process should be allowed to play out. Americans deserve leadership
that won’t move the goalposts on them in the middle of the game,” Beshear
said, noting that he was among the tens of thousands who submitted public
comments in favor of the reform after it was initiated under the Biden
administration, “demonstrating broad public interest in rescheduling.”

“I joined that effort because this is about helping people. Rescheduling
would provide suffering patients the relief they need,” the governor said.
“It would ensure communities are safer—because legal medical products
reduce the illicit market. It would provide new, meaningful research on
health benefits.”

Beshear also mentioned a letter to DEA he signed onto last year urging
rescheduling, “because the jury is no longer out on marijuana. It has
medical benefits.”

Back on the state level, the governor recently said he acknowledges that
“it’s taken longer than we would have liked” to stand up the industry since
he signed medical marijuana legalization into law in 2023.

In recognition of that delayed implementation, he recently signed an
executive order to waive renewal fees for patients who get their cards this
year so that they don’t get charged again before retailers open. And
another order he signed providing protections for qualified patients who
obtain medical marijuana outside of Kentucky “will stay in place.”

Beshear separately announced in May that the state has launched a new
online directory that lets people see where medical cannabis dispensaries
will be opening near them.

He emphasized that the state has been working to deliver access to patients
“at the earliest possible date,” and that involved expediting the licensing
process. The governor in January also ceremonially awarded the
commonwealth’s first medical marijuana cards.


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Meanwhile, the governor sent a letter to Kentucky’s congressional
delegation in January, “urging them to take decisive action to protect the
constitutional rights of our law abiding medical cannabis patients” by
repealing the federal ban on gun possession by people who use marijuana.

That came after bipartisan Kentucky senators filed legislation that
similarly called on the state’s federal representatives to take corrective
action, which Beshear said he supports but would like to see even more
sweeping change on the federal level.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
warned Kentucky residents late last year that, if they choose to
participate in the state’s medical marijuana program, they will be
prohibited from buying or possessing firearms under federal law.

As far as the implementation of the state’s medical cannabis law goes,
Beshear said in his State of the Commonwealth address in January that patients
will have access to cannabis sometime “this year.” He also later shared
tips for patients to find a doctor and get registered to participate in the
cannabis program.

Health practitioners have been able to start assessing patients for
recommendations since the beginning of December.

While there currently aren’t any up-and-running dispensaries available to
patients, Beshear has further affirmed that an executive order he signed in
2023 will stay in effect in the interim, protecting patients who possess
medical cannabis purchased at out-of-state licensed retailers.

During last year’s November election, Kentucky also saw more than 100
cities and counties approve local ordinances to allow medical cannabis
businesses in their jurisdictions. The governor said the election results
demonstrate that “the jury is no longer out” on the issue that is clearly
supported by voters across partisan and geographical lines.

The post Kentucky Governor Says Medical Marijuana Sales Should Start By The
End Of This Year appeared first on Marijuana Moment.