Why some Kentucky voters have a medical cannabis question on their ballot

KENTUCKY ( FOX 56 ) — When Kentucky’s medical marijuana program officially starts in January, there’ll be some communities where those businesses will be off limits.

“A lot of these jurisdictions are giving their people the option to make that choice for themselves,” Kentucky NORML executive director Matthew Bratcher told FOX 56.

In the original bill creating Kentucky’s soon-to-be medical cannabis program, there is a carve-out for local communities to opt-out.

“Everybody was opted in at the beginning of the program. And so that allowed regular jurisdictions to figure out if they wanted to as well, kind of like how we do with alcohol,” Bratcher said.

Local leaders in some communities have made the decision already. The map below from Kentucky’s Office of Medical Cannabis shows counties shaded in red that have already passed a resolution to opt-out. 20 counties in total have done so. They may overlap with some counties shaded in purple where 41 cities have also opted out. Although the remaining blue counties are where an “automatic” opt-in remains, several are leaving the question up to voters.

Bratcher said an “opt-out” was more or less expected for most rural and small communities.

“And a lot of these places, they won’t have to really worry about cannabis businesses being in their jurisdictions, mainly because we have such limited licenses,” Bratcher explained.

The state is only initially licensing 48 medical cannabis dispensaries spread across 11 regions in a lottery next month. There are even fewer available for cultivators and processors.

For context, Bratcher said the state has received more than 5 thousand applications just for dispensaries. Where they will operate may be in one of the 12 counties and 64 cities that have confirmed the automatic opt-in with a resolution or where it’s up for a vote.

“We’ve been doing targeted emails to jurisdictions to really kind of ramp up their awareness they’re going to have that question on the ballot,” Bratcher said.

This map from the Office of Medical Cannabis shows where the program is on the ballot. Counties shaded yellow will leave the question of cannabis sales up to voters, orange counties will have citywide questions, and red counties will ask voters to approve cannabis sales in both the city and county. For example, Georgetown voters will have the question on their ballot twice, one asking them to approve sales in the city and the other asking them to approve sales in the county.

If a local resolution fails or a patient lives in a county that opts out, medical patients are free to participate and get cannabis from anywhere else in the state. If a community has opted out it can, at any time, opt back in as the program takes shape.

The Office of Medical Cannabis has an interactive map to view where ballot questions are being voted on and what communities have decided to opt in/out that can be viewed here: https://kymedcan.ky.gov/local-government/Pages/ballot-resolutions.aspx

Read more about Kentucky NORML’s advocacy work on its website: https://www.kynorml.org/

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