Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) celebrated the opening of the state’s 26th operational medical cannabis dispensary last week, declaring the program’s buildout more than halfway complete. “My administration worked hard to bring medical cannabis to Kentucky, and our hard work paid off,” Beshear said on Wednesday.
The governor signed the legislation legalizing medical marijuana in 2023, and the law took effect last year. “I’m proud to say that just a year and a half later, Team Kentucky is over halfway finished with building out this program,” he said.
Beshear said the state now has 46 of 80 approved businesses up and operating. That figure includes 13 cultivators, two safety compliance facilities, five processors and 26 dispensaries.
“We moved quickly to bring relief to Kentuckians, and we’ve always put the patient first,” Beshear said, calling the progress “amazing” in providing legal access to medical cannabis.
The state’s first medical cannabis dispensary opened in December of last year. The governor announced in February that cannabis gummies are available for purchase in the state’s licensed dispensaries.
Dispensaries are now open across all 11 licensing regions of the state, a milestone reached with the opening of Sunnyside Dispensary in Floyd County. “Now every qualifying Kentuckian has access to safe, non-addictive relief close to home,” the governor said on Wednesday.
“We’ve hit milestone after milestone, and access continues to expand,” Beshear said.
According to data the governor cited at his latest press conference, more than 29,000 Kentuckians have been approved for medical marijuana cards. More than 500 medical practitioners are registered to recommend cannabis.
“Folks suffering from serious conditions like PTSD, cancer, multiple sclerosis and more now have a safe alternative that can deliver relief,” Beshear said.
In August, the governor said the effort to open dispensaries was approaching the “halfway mark” to becoming fully operational.
Beshear signed an executive order in June to broaden the list of health conditions that make patients eligible to legally obtain medical cannabis. The move came after the legislature declined to take up his suggestion to expand the qualifying condition list this session.
The order allows patients with 15 additional health disorders to be certified for medical marijuana access. Those conditions include Parkinson’s disease, HIV/AIDS, sickle cell anemia, fibromyalgia, arthritis and glaucoma.
Beshear pushed back, saying the GOP lawmaker exhibited a “complete lack of humanity.” “It’s helping a lot of people, and I was really surprised to see an attack from one lawmaker who called on the attorney general to prosecute people dying of a terminal illness for securing medical cannabis,” Beshear said.
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