In April, Governor Beshear signed House Bill 829, which accelerated the timeline outlined in Senate Bill 47 passed last year. This would allow medical cannabis-related businesses to apply for licenses beginning in July of 2024 instead of January 2025.
Recently, the state sent a mandate out to local governments to decide whether they would allow cannabis-related businesses to operate in their jurisdictions. The due date for their decisions will be August 13, 2024.
"The state has sent down the mandates for medical cannabis, giving the counties and cities options of doing this," said Phil Baker, Logan County Judge Executive. "You can vote yes, you can vote no, or you can raise the resolution to put it on the ballot in November 2024." If no action is taken and individual jurisdictions do not turn in a decision, the state will consider it a 'yes ' vote.
One of the important features the state has given local governments on the decision is allowing cities to vote independently from their respective counties. "If the county said no or the county said yes, the cities could go either yes or no also, so that's basically its own entity," Baker said. Should any jurisdiction opt to approve medical cannabis, they must draft their ordinances in compliance with state law. "Whether it be city or county, anyone that says yes has to write their ordinance and regulations on how to control it in their city as long as it matches and does not change KRS code," Baker said.
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