Kenton County officials, including mayors, county leaders, and administrators from Kenton County Planning and Development Services, discussed the soon-to-be-implemented administrative regulations around medical cannabis at the meeting of the Kenton County Mayors Group in Fort Wright on Saturday.
“The time to make decisions in your city is quickly approaching,” said Erlanger Mayor and Chair of the Mayors Group Jessica Fette.
Sharmili Reddy, the executive director of Kenton County Planning and Development Services, gave a presentation to the meeting attendees outlining the laws and regulations that will govern medical cannabis facilities in the commonwealth.
“This is a very heavily regulated business at all levels,” Reddy said.
The legalization of medical cannabis in Kentucky came about on March 31, 2023, when Gov. Andy Beshear signed Senate Bill 47 into law. The law, which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2025, enabled the regulation of medical marijuana statewide and established the administration of such regulation under the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the newly-established Kentucky Medical Cannabis Program. The state is responsible for issuing certifications to businesses and professionals to grow, sell and prescribe cannabis, but cities are free to allow or prohibit the establishment of such businesses however they see fit.
Whatever they decide, cities must take action regulating medical cannabis in their jurisdictions; they can’t simply leave it alone. One way they can establish this regulation is through zoning, which would dictate where in a city someone can establish a facility, if at all. Cities can also pass resolutions that would put the issue up to a popular vote. Finally, residents can trigger a recall election of a city’s established regulations with enough signatures.
The law established five kinds of allowable facilities: cultivating centers where the cannabis would be grown, processing facilities where the plants are refined for medical use, hybrid facilities where both cultivation and processing would take place, dispensaries and safety facilities where products are tested to ensure they’re safe to use. All facilities, including cultivation centers, must be housed indoors. As a result of the indoor requirement, Reddy said the county would likely recommend the facilities be housed in industrial zones, rather than agricultural zones.
She added that even though the Cabinet of Health and Family Services had established 10 administrative regulations in January to help guide jurisdictions in their planning, many things were still in flux. New regulations relating to the regulation of medical cannabis, such as House Bill 829, which proposes background check requirements and additional regulations around medical cannabis in schools, among other proposals, are still percolating in this year’s legislative session.
Moreover, the public comment period for the administrative regulations is open until March 31, so Reddy said Kenton County Planning and Development had not yet released its memo laying out model zoning regulations.
Still, many at the meeting believed that everyone should be on the same page when it came to regulating medical cannabis facilities, whatever the decisions of individual jurisdictions.
To start, Reddy said that having an established zoning text amendment at the county level would make the process more efficient, as it would establish clear, predictable procedures for the Kenton County Planning Commission, which would be issuing zoning recommendations to the county’s 19 cities.
“Ideally, procedurally, for us what will be the most efficient… would be to take one text amendment, one massive text amendment to the planning commission, get a public hearing done, and then get it back to you all to make the decisions that you have to make,” Reddy said. “Otherwise, we’d be looking at 20 different public hearings before the Planning Commission, and it just isn’t that efficient.”
Reddy said that she and Planning and Development Services would make themselves available to help cities navigate the process. Moreover, Fette invited the meeting attendees to contact her so the different municipalities could better coordinate. Finally, Independence Mayor Chris Reinersman pitched the idea of having a workshop after the close of the legislative session between city officials and Planning and Development so that everyone could better hash out their needs and expectations as the county furnishes model zoning.
Fette stated that Dr. Michael Reeser, a clinical psychologist who operates a private practice in Erlanger, would attend the mayors meeting on April 20 in Edgewood to discuss the science behind the medical uses of cannabis for members of the group.
Attendees did not comment on the fortuitous coincidence of discussing cannabis regulations on April 20.
Read laws and regulations related to medical cannabis in Kentucky at the Kentucky Medical Cannabis Program’s dedicated webpage.
