Get the Facts: How Kentucky will award permits to applicants for medical marijuana program
More than 4,000 applicants are competing for 48 permits to operate medical cannabis dispensaries in Kentucky, according to new figures unveiled at Thursday’s weekly update with Gov. Andy Beshear.Thursday’s news conference was the first since the Aug. 31 application deadline. “Today, the results are clear,” Beshear said. “There is incredible, if not overwhelming interest, especially among Kentuckians. That’s proof that the program is going to meet its goals. We are just going to have some challenges.”Here’s a breakdown of the permit applications by type:Dispensary – 4,076Cultivator – 584Processor – 333 Safety Compliance Facility – 5Kentucky’s Office for Medical Cannabis had asked applicants to consider turning in their applications early, but 88% were submitted in the last four days before the deadline, Beshear said.The staff in charge of reviewing those applications had already been increased from nine to 29 people and an additional 20 employees will now be provided to help process the mountain of paperwork, Beshear said. “Despite the last-minute influx of applications, the Office of Medical Cannabis is currently reviewing these applications, and we remain on track to issue these licenses in 2024,” he said.Kentucky’s strict limits on the number of dispensaries allowed to operate have fueled rumors that deep-pocketed, out-of-state companies are submitting multiple applications under aliases to increase their chances of being picked in the lottery for permits.The practice, known as “stacking,” is prohibited by state law and applications will be scrutinized closely to detect it, Beshear said. “It’s hard to identify yet whether it’s happened and how much it’s happened, because so many applications came in right at the end, a big flood of them, but I do believe that the system is set up to prevent that from happening,” he said.The first lottery will likely be in October, and an exact date will be announced “in a couple weeks,” Beshear said.
More than 4,000 applicants are competing for 48 permits to operate medical cannabis dispensaries in Kentucky, according to new figures unveiled at Thursday’s weekly update with Gov. Andy Beshear.
Thursday’s news conference was the first since the Aug. 31 application deadline.
“Today, the results are clear,” Beshear said. “There is incredible, if not overwhelming interest, especially among Kentuckians. That’s proof that the program is going to meet its goals. We are just going to have some challenges.”
Here’s a breakdown of the permit applications by type:
Dispensary – 4,076Cultivator – 584Processor – 333 Safety Compliance Facility – 5
Kentucky’s Office for Medical Cannabis had asked applicants to consider turning in their applications early, but 88% were submitted in the last four days before the deadline, Beshear said.
The staff in charge of reviewing those applications had already been increased from nine to 29 people and an additional 20 employees will now be provided to help process the mountain of paperwork, Beshear said.
“Despite the last-minute influx of applications, the Office of Medical Cannabis is currently reviewing these applications, and we remain on track to issue these licenses in 2024,” he said.
Kentucky’s strict limits on the number of dispensaries allowed to operate have fueled rumors that deep-pocketed, out-of-state companies are submitting multiple applications under aliases to increase their chances of being picked in the lottery for permits.
The practice, known as “stacking,” is prohibited by state law and applications will be scrutinized closely to detect it, Beshear said.
“It’s hard to identify yet whether it’s happened and how much it’s happened, because so many applications came in right at the end, a big flood of them, but I do believe that the system is set up to prevent that from happening,” he said.
The first lottery will likely be in October, and an exact date will be announced “in a couple weeks,” Beshear said.