The first round of drawings for licenses to operate medical cannabis dispensaries has ended but there are still a few more dispensaries to be licensed this year.
36 businesses were named last month, now only leaving drawings for areas surrounding Lexington and Louisville. In the new year, these businesses will sell medical marijuana grown, processed, and tested in the Commonwealth to Kentucky residents with serious medical issues.
Sam Flynn is the Executive Director of the Office of Medical Cannabis and oversees the lottery proceedings. He said these dispensaries will have thorough requirements to ensure that they meet the highest standards of care.
“Folks are not permitted, regardless of whether they have a card or not, not permitted to smoke medical cannabis at any point,” said Flynn. “Our dispensaries will not allow the sale of any smokable products, a very important piece, our dispensaries are going to look and feel like a pharmacy-like experience. Certainly, how we’ve set this program up, there’s not food and beverage sales, in these facilities.”
Flynn said the dispensaries will have an interconnected system for tracking patient data, and there will be procedures in place so that patients always get the right amount of medicine, no matter where they go. He added that people don’t have to go to one specific dispensary.
“It’s important to note that folks can purchase medical cannabis at any one of the dispensaries, in Kentucky. They don’t have to go to the one nearest them, or ones that are in their licensing region, those regions are strictly for licensing purposes only, so they can go to any of those,” said Flynn.
In the northeast dispensary region, three licenses were granted in Boyd County, and one in Montgomery County. However, only one dispensary will be allowed in each county to cut down on driving times. The first business drawn in Ashland can operate there, but the other two are required to relocate before they can begin using their licenses.
A list of all dispensaries and locations will go up on the Office’s website next month, when sales can officially begin. The next drawing for dispensaries located in regions one and two, which include Fayette, Jefferson, and surrounding counties, will be held on December 16.