Business Licensing Update
The lottery for the following dispensary regions will be held on
November 25, 2024: Northeast, South Central, Cumberland, Mountain, Pennyrile, West Kentucky, Lincoln Trail, Northern Kentucky, and Green River.
The lottery for the following dispensary regions will be held on December 16, 2024: Bluegrass and Kentuckiana. Additionally, lotteries will be held for two (2) dispensary licenses in Fayette County (in the Bluegrass region) and two (2) dispensary licenses in Jefferson County (in the Kentuckiana region).
The lottery for Cultivator Tier I, Cultivator Tier II, Cultivator Tier III, and Processor licenses was held on Monday, October 28, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. EST. The lotteries were held by the Kentucky Lottery Corporation and lived streamed on the
Office of Medical Cannabis’ YouTube Channel.
You can view cannabis business licensees
here.
Overview
On April 18, 2024, the Program filed 2 administrative regulations which provide how medical cannabis businesses can apply to become licensed in the Commonwealth. You can learn more about the application and licensing regulations below or review the regulations
here.
On January 4, 2024, the Program filed 10 ordinary regulations governing medical cannabis business operations. The regulations provide rules for cultivators, processors, producers, dispensaries, and safety compliance facilities that will operate in the Commonwealth. These new rules also provide how medical cannabis products will be packaged, labeled, transported, advertised, and tested. You can find them
here.
For information regarding the ordinary regulation process and the emergency regulation process, please click
here.
Licensing Structure and Application Process
The initial cannabis business license period is currently closed.
The previous initial cannabis business license period was open from July 1, 2024 to August 31, 2024. You can view the previous notice of initial cannabis business license application availability here.
For applicants who applied during the above application period, you can access your account
here.
Per 915 KAR 1:010, Section 3(1), the Office shall publish a notice of initial license availability on our website, kymedcan.ky.gov, including the time frame during which initial license applications shall be accepted. This notice shall also state the category and number of cannabis business licenses available for issuance at the close of the application period.
Please check back to our website and social media accounts for future updates.
Please visit
How to Apply for additional information regarding the license structure and application process.
License Types and Fees
The Program will be issuing the following initial licenses:
The Program will be requiring the following sufficient capital for each cannabis business license application:
The Program has eleven medical cannabis regions for licensing dispensaries:
You can also find a PDF version of the map
here.
The Program will be requiring the following application, initial licensing, and renewal fees:
Understanding the Lottery Process
The Program will issue its initial allocation of medical cannabis business licenses using a lottery. A lottery is the most fair and transparent method for allocating medical cannabis business licenses in the Commonwealth.
It is important to remember that the Program will only conduct a lottery when the number of eligible applicants exceeds the initial license allocation for the business category.
After the Program reviews a business application, and if the application is determined complete by the Program, the business application will be entered into a licensing lottery for the selected cannabis business category if a lottery is necessary.
The Program will
not be issuing Safety Compliance Facilities licenses by lottery as there is no initial limitation on the number of Safety Compliance Facility licenses.
For more information about the specific requirements and restrictions for cannabis businesses, please click
here.
Review the resources below to learn more: