​Providing Written Certifications

​Physicians and advanced practice registered nurses ("APRNs") must be authorized through their respective licensing board in order to register with the Program as a medical cannabis practitioner. You can register as a practitioner through the Practitioner Authorization Registration Portal here​. 

After performing all actions required and determining that a patient meets the criteria for a diagnosis which qualifies them for medical cannabis treatment, a practitioner must record a certification in the state's medical cannabis practitioner registry within 24 hours of the patient's in-person examination.

SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE: Please note that the Cannabis Licensing software platform will be offline for scheduled maintenance from December 11, 2024 at 9:00 PM EST to December 12, 2024 at 1:00 AM EST.​

You can access the portal here:

​​​​​​

Once you have logged into your account, select +Create New Application from the left panel on the dashboard. This will prompt the "New Application" box in which the user must select Show All. 

The expanded box will include additional application options, including New Practitioner Registration and Electronic Practitioner Certification. 

For additional information regarding how to enter a written certification, please view the Authorized Practitioner Registration Guide, specifically pages 31-40. 

A medical cannabis practitioner may only provide written certifications for the use of medical cannabis after they have become authorized by a state licensing board to provide written certifications and they have registered with the state. 

KRS 218B.050​ provides how these practitioners may provide a patient with a written certification. The process is:

1. The practitioner must establish a bona fide practitioner-patient relationship with the patient;
   
2. The practitioner must diagnose the patient, or confirmed a diagnosis provided by another health care provider, with a medical condition that the practitioner believes the patient is likely to receive safe and effective therapeutic or palliative benefit from the use of medical cannabis;
   
3. The practitioner must review a report of information from the electronic monitoring system established by KRS 218A.202​ related to the patient for a period of time that covers at least 12 months immediately preceding the date of the report; 
   
4. The practitioner must consult with the patient, or the patient's custodial parent or legal guardian responsible for providing consent to treatment is the patient is a minor child, with respect to the possible risks and side effects associated with medical cannabis, including possible interactions between medicinal cannabis and any other drug or medication the patient is taking at that time; and
   
5. The practitioner must obtain the consent of the patient's custodial parent or legal guardian responsible for providing consent to treatment, if the patient is a minor child.