The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services says as of Aug. 15, it's received 113 applications for a variety of medical cannabis business licenses since it opened its application portal in July. While the Cabinet says it's received "significant interest" across the Commonwealth, so far it's only received two applications for medical cannabis dispensaries in Boone, Kenton, and Campbell counties.
One of those applications is for a proposed physical address in Boone County; the other is for Kenton County. No one has applied for the opportunity to open a cannabis business in Campbell County yet.
The deadline to apply for a license is Aug. 31. Still, the Cabinet is encouraging potential businesses to apply as soon as possible to give Kentucky's Office of Medical Cannabis time to process applications before applicants are placed in a lottery in the fall where 16 cultivators, 10 processors, and 48 dispensary businesses will be selected to receive the first cannabis licenses in the state for 2025.
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Municipalities handle things differently
Where those future businesses will end up in Northern Kentucky remains hazy until lottery winners are named this October. Individual municipalities in the region also must decide whether to welcome cannabis businesses into their communities in November's election.
In Kenton County, Covington and Fort Wright have decided to opt in and allow medical marijuana businesses to operate. Crestview Hills, Elsmere, Independence, and Ludlow will leave that decision to voters this fall.
Over in Boone County, no municipalities opted in for 2025. Florence will put the issue on the ballot. Union passed a resolution to temporarily prevent the distribution of licenses in the city while also passing another resolution to put the issue to voters in November.
Newport, Dayton, and Erlanger in Campbell County will allow marijuana businesses to operate. Alexandria, Bellevue, Southgate, and Wilder chose to join the list of Northern Kentucky communities that will decide on the issue during the election despite not having any businesses apply to open in the county just yet.
Why so little interest?
With two weeks left before Kentucky's final deadline for licenses in 2025, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services says it has over 1,200 accounts registered in its application portal, indicating that around 1,000 potential businesses have yet to apply.
One of those potential applicants on the fence is Elizabeth Kirby, owner of Your CBD Store in Florence. She says the uncertainty about which municipalities will allow the sale of medical cannabis combined with the high price of opening a dispensary on top of the state's fees could be the reason why Kentucky has so many half-baked applications.
"The unknown are things that are holding us back," she told WVXU. "[Kentucky] kind of gives you an estimate on cash-on-hand you should have but then we've looked a little bit further into it, and it seems like maybe we'd need two to three times that amount of cash. And we're small independent owners. We're not a huge corporation."
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Applying to receive a cannabis license isn't free. The fee to apply in Kentucky is $5,000, and if a business is selected, the nonrefundable initial licensing fee is $30,000 plus another $30,000 renewal each year to retain that license. For marijuana cultivators, an application fee can be as high as $30,000 for a Tier IV cultivator along with a $100,000 initial licensing and annual renewal fee.
If a portion of those potential businesses does apply, there's no guarantee they'll be granted a cannabis license in their desired location. Kentucky has 11 medical cannabis dispensary regions with several counties within each region. Regions can receive at least four dispensary licenses but only one marijuana dispensary will be permitted in each county for the first round of licensing in 2025 (except in Fayette and Jefferson counties, where Lexington and Lousiville are located). That can further complicate what can already be a long and complicated process for potential dispensary owners.
"You have to find a location in a city that you think is going to be friendly towards a dispensary and the location can't be within 1,000 feet of a school or daycare, then you have to also make sure whoever you lease or purchase from — especially if you're leasing — that the landlord will be OK with a dispensary on their property," Kirby said. "That has to be put into the application also. So there's so many little factors that go into it. You have to pretty much come up with a perfect storm."
Kirby still isn't sure if she'll apply for a license, but after hearing there have only been two applicants in her area, she says the odds could end up being in her favor when winners are named in October.
