Awardees selected through Team Kentucky’s first-ever license lottery

FRANKFORT, KY - On Oct. 28, 2024, Gov. Andy Beshear joined the state’s first-ever medical cannabis license lottery. During the event, held at the Kentucky Lottery Corp. in Louisville, Team Kentucky selected 26 applicants for medical cannabis cultivation and processor licenses.

“All medical cannabis that is cultivated, processed, tested and dispensed will be done so right here in Kentucky,” said Gov. Beshear. “Today’s lottery helps ensure those medical cannabis businesses can become operational so that Kentuckians with serious medical conditions can have safe, affordable access to the health care relief and choice they deserve at the soonest possible date.”

The available categories included 10 Tier I cultivator licenses, four Tier II cultivator licenses, two Tier III cultivator licenses and 10 processor licenses. Applicants within these categories were informed last week whether they were approved for the license lottery. Those applicants selected in the license lottery will have 15 days to pay their license fee to Office of Medical Cannabis. Once that fee has been paid, the office will issue a license to that business.

“The lottery system is an approach that was adopted after reviewing best practices from other states that have an established medical cannabis market,” said Sam Flynn, executive director of the Office of Medical Cannabis. “Since day one, our primary goal was to make the application and selection process as fair and transparent as possible. The Kentucky Lottery Corp. has been doing this for a long time, and we appreciate their professionalism and support in helping us carry out this endeavor.”

The window to apply for a medical cannabis business license was July 1 through Aug. 31. During that time, the Office of Medical Cannabis received 4,998 applications, of which 918 were cultivator and processor applicants.

“The Kentucky Lottery is honored to be asked to conduct the required drawings, and we thank the Governor for allowing us to be a part of this impactful initiative,” said Kentucky Lottery President and CEO Mary Harville. “Over the 35 years of its existence, the Lottery has been known for conducting drawings for a plethora of its draw-based games, first with machines and balls, and now, with state-of-the-art random number generators. These drawings are conducted with the highest level of integrity and are in accordance with industry established procedures. We are happy to be able to bring this level of integrity to the cannabis drawings.”

A separate license lottery for dispensaries will be announced at a later date.

“Today’s event continues to propel us forward as we move closer to Jan. 1, 2025, which is when patients will be able to apply for a medical cannabis card,” said Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander. “Based on the number of applications received, the demand for this market is undeniable and we are excited for the opportunities that it will create for those in need.”

To qualify for a medical cannabis card starting Jan. 1, 2025, the holder must have a qualifying medical condition, which includes any type or form of cancer regardless of stage; chronic, severe, intractable or debilitating pain; epilepsy or any other intractable seizure disorder; multiple sclerosis, muscle spasms or spasticity; chronic nausea or cyclical vomiting syndrome that has proven resistant to other conventional medical treatments; and post-traumatic stress disorder. For more information visit, kymedcan.ky.gov.

Click here for the list of cultivators and processors who were randomly selected in the license lottery for cultivators and processors.

The Beshear administration is committed to ensuring Kentuckians with qualifying medical conditions have safe, affordable access to medical cannabis.

In September, the Governor issued Kentucky’s first medical cannabis business license to KCA Labs, a hemp testing lab currently operating in Nicholasville. Since then, the Office of Medical Cannabis has issued two additional licenses to testing labs.

In April, the Governor signed House Bill 829 into law, which among other things, took the important step of moving up the timeline for cannabis business licensing from Jan. 1, 2025, to July 2024.

In March, five regulations were filed to provide the framework for how Kentuckians with qualifying medical conditions can become cardholders.

In January, 10 regulations were filed to provide direction for how medical cannabis businesses, including cultivators, processors, producers, dispensaries and safety compliance facilities, will operate in the commonwealth.  

In March 2023, the Governor joined lawmakers and advocates to sign Senate Bill 47, which legalizes medical cannabis in the commonwealth.