Nicholasville lab first to receive medical marijuana license

NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. ( FOX 56 ) — A hemp testing lab in Jessamine County has received the first medical marijuana business license in Kentucky.

The Kentucky Medical Cannabis Program received 4,998 applications for medical cannabis business licenses, according to the governor’s office. KCA Labs is just the first to receive its license.

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Gov. Beshear called the Nicholasville lab a “one-stop” lab for quality testing cannabis and hemp and said that KCA Labs will act as a safety compliance facility to test medical cannabis products before they’re in the hands of cardholders.

“Our mission is to ensure Kentuckians with serious medical conditions have safe access to high quality, tested medical cannabis products,” said Gov. Beshear. “Today, we took two more big steps toward that goal.”

“We are so excited about the opportunity to be part of Kentucky’s medical cannabis program, and we’re thrilled to accept the first license,” Jonathan Thompson, CEO of KCA Labs said. “I want to thank the Governor and the Office of Medical Cannabis for setting up this licensing process, which has been seamless. KCA’s vast knowledge and experience with testing hemp products will translate neatly into Kentucky’s new medical cannabis program. We look forward to helping ensure the program provides the highest-quality products to Kentucky’s cardholders.”

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Further, the license lottery for “medical cannabis cultivators and processors” will begin on Oct. 28 with organizers currently working through applications.

“Applicants for cultivator Tiers I, II, III and applicants for processors will be informed the week prior whether they are approved to the license lottery,” the governor’s office said. “The lotteries will be held by the Kentucky Lottery Corp. in Louisville and will be live-streamed so Kentuckians can tune in and follow along.”

There will be 10 licenses available for processors, a total of 16 cultivator licenses, and 48 licenses for dispensaries spread out across 11 regions.

According to the program, patients can apply for their medical cannabis cards in January.

For information on how to apply and the qualifying conditions, click here .

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