Alexandria City Council discusses medical cannabis ballot measure

The Alexandria City Council discussed its intentions to put medical cannabis on the ballot for residents to decide during its July 18 meeting.

Though the meeting had a quorum, two members were missing, so the four present members and the mayor decided to wait to vote on the measure until their next meeting on Aug. 1. Council members Patrick Blair, Robert Strong, Kyle Sparks and Joe Anderson, along with Mayor Andy Schabell, informally agreed that they would choose to vote to put medical cannabis on the November ballot.

“My personal two opinions are either allow it or put it on the ballot,” Schabell said. “I don’t think we should say no because that doesn’t give the residents any say.”

Medical cannabis will be legal in the state effective Jan. 1, 2025. Each city is responsible for creating the zoning regulations to either make way or not allow those types of businesses to operate.

The state began issuing licenses to businesses on July 1, so they have six months to get up and running and gather inventory before Jan. 1. Applications will then be approved through a lottery. Learn more about how that system works here.

Campbell County voted to prohibit medical cannabis businesses in early June to give each city more time to develop its own regulations. Individual cities and the county have the option to opt in in the future.

“My opinion, I think the citizens ought to vote on it,” Anderson said. “What they want here. I don’t think we should say no up here and just be the actual definite.”

The city also briefly discussed its current drug policy. Should an employee at the beginning of January legally get their medicinal cannabis card and then start working for the city, they are subject to a drug test, and the city’s policy asks for immediate termination upon a failed test.

“We’re just trying to be mindful of these conditions to see if there’s any way we can try to make those situations work,” Alexandria Administrator David Plummer said.

He said there is almost no guidance as far as how to update an employee personnel policy across the state of Kentucky that they are aware of now.

“We’re just going to keep mulling it over to think about how we can move forward because, you know, if there ever is a situation where somebody is legally prescribed those items, our policy states that you can’t use a legal item,” Plummer said.

Across all of Kentucky, the state will issue 10 licenses for cannabis processors and 48 licenses will be available for dispensaries.

Those licenses will be issued in 11 regions across the commonwealth; each region will initially be granted at least four dispensary licenses. However, no more than one dispensary can be located in each county — the only exception to this rule being Kentucky’s two largest counties, Jefferson and Fayette.