Kentucky’s first operational medical cannabis processor, Bison Processing, officially opened in Dayton.
The processor held a private ribbon-cutting event on Jan. 15. As the first facility of its kind in the state, Bison Processing (Bison Infused Kentucky, LLC) will be responsible for taking Kentucky-grown cannabis and transforming it into safe, lab-tested medical products—such as tinctures, edibles and topicals—for patients registered in the Kentucky Medical Cannabis Program.
Director of Extraction at Bison Processing, Donny Petarra, said the processor hopes to start testing the product next week, which takes about four days, and hopes to have the product rolling out the door within the next two weeks.
This facility is a processing center only and is not a dispensary. No medical cannabis products are available for purchase on-site, and the facility is not open to the public.
Petarra said the processor will primarily be producing gummies and then look into launching vapes and other concentrates that can be vaporized. He said that by being the first processor to open in the commonwealth, they get to set the standard for the state.
The opening of the facility also means that dispensaries will have product to fill their shelves.
“We’re the only ones that can make any processed goods, so any gummies that until another place gets licensed, any vapes, any concentrates, all of that, we’re the only people in the state that can be producing it,” Petarra said. “So, it’s really beneficial to those stores and those dispensaries who haven’t really been able to have anything else on their shelves, other than flower from the couple of other groups that are available.”
Dayton unanimously approved medical cannabis operations to locate in the city in June 2024.
“Dayton, Kentucky, has a very long history with hemp,” said Dayton Mayor Ben Baker. “We used to have hemp on the fields that we turned into rope, and we sold that to the steamboat industry. So, coming full circle, back in 2024, we were proud to be the first city to legalize cannabis as a processing area in Northern Kentucky.”
Mario Gadea with Bison Processing said the processor is a state-of-the-art scientific laboratory that is a highly technical, highly regulated environment where precision is key.
He said they utilize pharmaceutical-grade extraction technology and rigorous internal testing protocols to ensure that every product that leaves the building is of the highest quality.
“When we’re looking for a home for Bison Infused, we didn’t just want a zip code; we wanted a partner,” Gadea said. “From the very first meeting with Mr. Baker [Dayton mayor] and the city of Dayton, they have been nothing short of exceptional. You didn’t just opt into this industry. You embraced it and embraced the vision of what a responsible medical-grade manufacturing can bring to this region.”