Kentucky officials shocked by the number of applications for medical cannabis business licenses

State officials say the Kentucky medical cannabis program is still projected to issue business license this year. The window to accept applications closed last weekend and officials were shocked by the response.

During a press conference on Thursday, Governor Beshear said they received nearly five thousand applications for licenses.

“This is significantly more than any initial projection. The vast majority of these are for dispensaries and the vast majority of those applications can in the last 24 or 48 hours before the deadline.”

Governor Beshear said despite this, Kentucky is still on track to begin licensing businesses by the end of this year.

“Most important this is that we do it right, and we do it safely, and we create a program that addresses any concerns and provides this important healthcare service to our people.”

The Governor said they are increasing staff at the office of medical cannabis to handle the lottery process.

The vast majority of the applications were for dispensaries. There will be eleven medical cannabis dispensary licensing regions throughout the commonwealth.

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