It's been a long road for Kentucky to get its medical cannabis market off the ground by Governor Andy Beshear sounds confident it will launch before the end of the year.
Speaking Thursday during a press briefing, he said dispensaries in the state are ready and waiting for products from local growers.
"Some of the inspections that have to happen in dispensaries, they have to have product that’s there. So I do believe they'll be operating before the end of the year," he told reporters. "I think everybody is working as hard and as fast as they can, but they’re wanting to make sure they do it right as well."
In July, Armory Kentucky, a Tier II cultivator based in Mayfield, introduced the first medical cannabis inventory in Kentucky history.
“This administration made a commitment to Kentuckians suffering from cancer, PTSD, multiple sclerosis and other eligible conditions, and I am proud we are making progress to deliver safe, affordable access to medical cannabis,” said Beshear. “Through work with the General Assembly to move up business licensing by six full months and providing licensees with the tools they need to get up and running, we are closer than ever to providing Kentuckians with life-changing relief.”
The inventory in question turned out to be thousands of adult cannabis plants that had been brought in to jumpstart the process, a move that seemingly defies federal prohibition and the subsequent limits on interstate cannabis commerce.
It’s been about nine months since the state officially launched its market and it still doesn’t have any cannabis to sell to the more than 11,500 Kentuckians with medical cannabis cards.
