Northern Kentucky residents with medical marijuana cards may soon be able to buy cannabis products from dispensaries in the region as early as a few weeks.
Bluegrass Cannacare, a dispensary in Florence, is eyeing a November opening, or whenever cannabis products grown in Kentucky become available to retailers. General Manager Chad Johns says many in the community are eagerly awaiting the store's opening day, but a grand opening date has not been set yet.
"The cultivators are still getting these plants grown and harvested, and the processors have to take it from them and turn it into those products," Johns told WVXU. "We have rough ideas, but nothing is finalized yet."
Despite medical cannabis becoming legal in the Commonwealth Jan. 1, the industry has yet to blossom. Only two cannabis cultivators are currently approved to begin growing at their facilities. The first began operating in July, and less than two weeks ago, the second was permitted to start growing.
Many dispensaries also appear to be late to the party. While Bluegrass Cannacare has a website and a physical location, three other companies that won the right to open in Northern Kentucky during the state's license lottery in 2024 don't look to be as far along.
The Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis' list of licensees shows that all four of the companies awarded dispensary licenses in the region have either transferred rights to another company or requested to change the initial location of their business, which can cause delays.
Johns, who also runs a local vape shop company, attributes the lack of dispensaries ready to open, in part, to the number of out-of-state companies that won cannabis licenses in the lottery late last year. He says these out-of-state companies applied to operate businesses without knowing the area.
"Some of these companies aren't in-state companies. They are multi-state organizations," he said. "They pulled an address from Google Maps or whatever, and they get here and realize that's not an acceptable address. You have to do a change of address. You actually have to find proper zoning and permitting."
Some local governments have barred cannabis businesses from opening, and Kentucky law puts restrictions on how close businesses can be to an existing school or daycare center.
Johns says Bluegrass Cannacare had to change its initial location, too, but was able to move faster than some others because of existing relationships with local officials.
A Kentucky Public Radio review of Kentucky's cannabis lottery revealed that 33 of the 36 applicants who won dispensary licenses were non-residents of the state and had not owned or worked for a business in Kentucky. At least half of the winning companies listed executives affiliated with cannabis businesses in other states. Other winners of cannabis cultivator and processor licenses have similar ties.
Some of these companies, including Arkansas-based Dark Horse Cannabis, organized hundreds of new companies ahead of the state's lottery deadlines. Applications weren't cheap either. The fee for a dispensary application was $5,000 each, and if selected, the winner had to pay a $30,000 licensing fee. Cultivator applicants paid even more, with application fees as high as $30,000 and licensing fees topping $100,000.
Though Gov. Andy Beshear has called the lottery process fair and transparent, others seem to disagree.
In April, Kentucky's Auditor Allison Ball announced an investigation into the Office of Medical Cannabis and its execution of the lottery after other applicants complained to her office.
Bluegrass Cannacare claims to be owned and operated by Kentuckians. Johns says the company only submitted one applicant and got lucky.
"We drew the golden egg. We put in one and got one. It was a miracle," Johns says.
Once open, Bluegrass Canncare says it plans to sell cannabis flower, vapes, edibles, and more.
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