Starting Jan. 1, 2025, medical cannabis will be legal in the state of Kentucky. Over the past few months, municipalities throughout Northern Kentucky have been deciding what that will look like in the region.
Each city is responsible for creating zoning regulations to make way for (or not allow) those types of businesses to operate.
The state accepted applications for licenses between July 1 and Aug. 31, 2024. According to the Office Of Medical Cannabis, there were a total of 2,650 medical cannabis facility applications submitted throughout the state, far exceeding the available licenses.
Of those applications, 248 were for cultivation facilities, 117 were for processors, 2,282 for dispensaries and three for safety compliance facilities.
Cultivators, according to the office, are responsible for planting, raising, harvesting, trimming and curing the raw marijuana plant; processors are responsible for processing and packaging the plant material into “usable product formats”; safety compliance facilities test the raw plant materials and projects for contamination and purity; dispensaries sell the finished product to cardholders.
The results of the first license lottery were released in late October, and no licenses were issued to medical cannabis businesses in Boone, Kenton, or Campbell.
In total, 16 cultivator licenses and 10 processor licenses were issued during the state’s first license lottery round. No licenses for dispensaries, where someone can buy medical cannabis with their state-issued card, were issued anywhere. New rounds of licensing will occur in the future.
Each region will initially be granted at least four dispensary licenses, but no more than one dispensary can be located in each county – the exceptions being Kentucky’s two largest counties, Jefferson and Fayette.
So, who can use medical cannabis?
To qualify for a medical card, according to the Office Of Medical Cannabis, the applicant must be a resident of Kentucky, have no disqualifying felony offenses and be diagnosed with at least one of these medical conditions:
- Any type or form of cancer
- Chronic or severe pain
- Epilepsy or other intractable seizure disorder
- Multiple sclerosis, muscle spasms, or spasticity
- Chronic nausea or cyclical vomiting syndrome
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
Applications for cards can be submitted starting Jan. 1, 2025. Before applying, those seeking a card must get a “written certification for medical cannabis from an authorized medical practitioner,” according to the Office Of Medical Cannabis.
The office is encouraging patients and caregivers to wait on the written certification until Nov. 1, 2024, as the certification is only valid for 60 days and will not be accepted if expired.
Local governments have until Jan. 1 to take action on whether they want to allow businesses to operate in their cities and counties.
Some local governments have banned cannabis facilities, others have chosen to allow them and some decided to put the issue on the ballot to allow the citizens to decide.
Here are the conversations happening in the cities and counties across Northern Kentucky.
The odor issue
In Fort Wright, the plant’s famously pungent smell has come up several times during discussions around medical cannabis facilities.
Since Planning and Development Services of Kenton County initially presented medical cannabis information to cities, members of the Fort Wright city council have been concerned about these operations emitting an unpleasant odor.
“We can’t let the odor impact our neighbors,” Councilmember Justin “Jay” Weber said during the council’s July meeting.
“[Medical cannabis operations] could produce an odor,” Jill Cain Bailey, city administrator, said in response. “But Burger King also produces an odor. What is the difference if the odor is not toxic?”
Council asked Sharmili Reddy, the executive director of Kenton County Planning and Development Services, whether requiring a dispensary to be a standalone building would be an “undue restriction.”
“I don’t think we usually see that in zoning ordinances—requiring a specific use to be standalone,” Reddy said. However, regarding dispensaries possibly emitting odors, Reddy said, “You allow vape and smoke shops that produce odors.”
There are several smoke or vape shops within Fort Wright city limits.
Keshar Ghimire, associate professor at the University of Cincinnati and expert on marijuana law, told LINK nky he had seen this discussion before around medical cannabis.
“Similar proposals have definitely been floated in several counties across the country but often they don’t survive,” Ghimire said. “Such restrictions may go against the spirit of the state law that seeks to allow easy access to medical marijuana.”
Ghimire provided Spokane County, Washington, as an example of a county that has tried to legislate cannabis odor. Due to citizen complaints about odor, Spokane instituted a moratorium on outdoor marijuana farms. Spokane eventually lifted the moratorium, but the county went on to impose additional rules, regulations and fees on those farms.
In September, Fort Wright passed an amendment to its zoning ordinances to accommodate medical cannabis facilities.
Walton’s water concerns
A unique discussion around medical cannabis happened over in Walton. The city council voted in August to ban cannabis business operations, partly because, according to council members, it could put a strain on the city’s water and sewer systems.
Councilmembers discussed at their July meeting that Walton’s water and sewer capacity would not be able to support large new cannabis operations, as it is already struggling to keep up with Walton’s continued growth.
Councilman Dan Martin said that most of the council is actually in support of the use of medical cannabis and that despite the decision not to allow cannabis operations now, the decision has the potential to be reversed in the future.
“I feel like most of council is in support of medical cannabis,” Martin said. “[But] if a large operation wanted to come in, we couldn’t stop that, and we’re just worried about water supply.”
Products already on the market
The Newport Commission had a long debate about medical cannabis during their August meeting, where discussions surrounded cannabinoid products that are currently legally for sale in Kentucky.
Commissioner Ken Rechtin said he intends to vote against allowing cannabis operations in the city.
“Just because the general assembly gives us the right to do something, I don’t think we just have to do it,” Rechtin said. “I’m not sure that this is what our city and our citizens want, so I’m going to vote no.”
Rechtin said that when he needs medicine, he goes to the doctor, who sends it to a pharmacy that counts out the pills and ensures he gets the adequate dosage.
He said the city is already selling gummies in its vape shops. During the August meeting, Rechtin held up a bottle of 48 gummies that he bought for $25 at a Newport vape store. He said the active ingredient is THC, which is a cannabinoid found in cannabis that’s the primary psychoactive component of the plant.
“I can open this, and my grandchildren can open this,” he said. “It’s a gummy. Tastes like blueberry.”
Newport Mayor Tom Guidugli Jr. said that he agreed the product Rechtin bought was “a real problem in the community,” and that was one of the reasons why the general assembly made this decision to legalize medical cannabis.
“That product is not regulated,” he said. “It has no consistency throughout it, and it has no actual measurements. So, part of the purpose was to circumvent that with something that was more regulated, had proper dosing and actually could be placed and referred to in regard to their condition and the right dose.”
Guidugli Jr. said he wanted to draw the contrast between the vape shop gummies and medical cannabis dispensaries because of the requirements and the standards in place for medical facilities that don’t exist for retail sale gummies.
Here are what local municipalities have decided to do regarding medical cannabis facilities:
Allowed
- Covington
- Dayton
- Erlanger
- Fort Wright
Banned
- Boone County
- Campbell County
- Kenton County
- Taylor Mill
- Walton
Placed on the ballot
- Alexandria
- Bellevue
- Crestview Hills
- Elsmere
- Florence
- Independence
- Ludlow
- Southgate
- Union
- Wilder
All three counties passed bans on medical cannabis facilities, so municipalities that have not taken action fall under the county ban. While the time to place the decision on the ballot has passed, municipalities can vote to allow facilities at any time or stick with the ban.
LINK nky reporter Haley Parnell and contributors Emma Balcom and Kathleen Bryant contributed reporting to this story.