The governor of Kentucky is touting a milestone of registering more than 15,000 medical marijuana patients as the state’s program is set to launch—and he says officials are expected to have approved licenses for all four types of cannabis businesses to supply the market by next week.
During a briefing on Thursday, Gov. Andy Beshear (D) gave an update on the commonwealth’s progress to stand up the medical marijuana program. And in the nearly 300 days since the state started accepting patient applications, 21,000 electronic certifications have been processed. Of those, about 15,000 patients have been approved as card holders.
“Since taking office, my administration has been committed to providing access to health care and creating safe communities in Kentucky,” the governor said. “One of our priorities is to ensure that Kentucky suffering from PTSD and serious medical conditions like cancer or multiple multiple sclerosis can have safe access to medical cannabis as soon as possible to get the relief they need.”
Part of the success of the program rollout and large volume of patient certifications is the fact Kentucky now has about 500 doctors who are authorized to issue written medical cannabis recommendations.
“That number is set to grow as more health care providers complete training,” Beshear said.
After obtaining a written recommendation, patients use an online portal to submit the information to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, after which point officials review the application and issue a medical cannabis card.
“We’re seeing strong engagement from our medical community, which shows confidence in this program,” he said. “We’re also making progress when it comes to the supply chain.”
There are four licensing categories within the state’s medical marijuana program: cultivators, processors, safety compliance facilities and dispensaries. The governor said “by next week, Kentucky will have approved licenses in each and every category, which is great news.”
He added that the first processor license applicant will have their facility inspected for approval on October 29, which will “complete the program’s full process cycle from cultivation to dispensary.”
“We’re getting closer to delivering on the promise of safe medical cannabis for Kentuckians in need,” Beshear said.
A Kentucky medical marijuana cultivation facility harvested its first yield of cannabis earlier this month, the Office of Medical Cannabis (OMC) said.
Last month, Beshear said he thought medical marijuana would be available to Kentucky patients by the end of 2025.
“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.”
Those comments came roughly a month after the governor announced that the state’s first medical cannabis dispensary was officially 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.”
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.
Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.
