Four cannabis businesses that applied to open medical marijuana dispensaries in Northern Kentucky have been selected by the state to receive the first licenses to operate in 2025.
Of the nearly 400 applicants, 334 were approved to participate in the Office of Medical Cannabis' license lottery for Northern Kentucky, which was held on Monday.
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Yellow Flowers LLC, which applied to open a dispensary in Erlanger in Kenton County, was the first selected, followed by Nicole Tirella, who applied in Alexandria in Campbell County, and Bluegrass Cannacare LLC, which plans to set up a dispensary in Florence in Boone County. Green Grass Cannabis LLC also was awarded a license to open in Erlanger but will have to choose a different county in the region for its location due to Kentucky's rule limiting each county to no more than one medical marijuana dispensary in 2025.
Sam Flynn, the executive director of Kentucky's Office of Medical Cannabis, says dispensaries are spread out across each region so those who have been prescribed medical marijuana aren't forced to drive too far to reach their nearest dispensary. Flynn says businesses like Green Grass Cannabis are still eligible to receive a license, but need to resubmit their application with a new proposed location in a nearby county that doesn't already have a dispensary.
"Some of them may need to move a location," Flynn said following the lottery. "We'll work with them throughout this process."
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Besides Boone, Kenton, and Campbell counties, the Northern Kentucky region includes Carroll, Gallatin, Owen, Grant, Pendleton, and Bracken counties.
The Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis held license drawings for 10 other regions across the Commonwealth Monday. Kentucky will hold a lottery for the two regions containing Lexington and Louisville Dec. 16. Those regions have the most applicants in the state with more than 1,200 between them.
