Kentucky grants first business licenses for medical cannabis program. Fayette gets 3
South-central Kentucky may soon become the hub of the commonwealth’s medical cannabis industry after a state-run lottery Monday granted two large-scale cultivator licenses to the area.
The tier-three licenses enable cultivators to open one indoor growing facility of up to 25,000 square feet in both Warren and Barren counties. In addition to state licenses for large-scale facilities, the lottery granted Warren County two processor licenses and one tier-two cultivator license for a facility of up to 10,000 square feet. Barren County was also granted a processor license.
Within Kentucky’s medical cannabis supply chain, cultivators will grow marijuana plants, which are then converted into consumer products by processors.
The processor/cultivator lottery was the first in a series that will randomly distribute medical cannabis business licenses as Kentucky prepares to launch its program in January, when qualifying patients can apply to become cardholders.
The lottery, held at Kentucky Lottery headquarters in Louisville, was live-streamed by the state’s Office of Medical Cannabis on its YouTube channel.
State officials have held off on announcing when a lottery for dispensary, or retail, licenses will take place. The state has received more than 4,000 applications from businesses seeking to open dispensaries in designated regions throughout the state. Only 48 dispensaries will be granted licenses initially.
All told, nearly 5,000 medical cannabis businesses have applied to the state for licenses.
“Our lottery for the 11 dispensary regions is going to be announced at Thursday’s team Kentucky update, where we will announce a select date…We want to set that date as early as possible,” Gov. Andy Beshear said. He described the overall interest in the state’s medical cannabis program as “overwhelming.”
During the lottery, Beshear read from a list of counties where medical cannabis cultivator and processor licenses had been granted. The Herald-Leader has requested the full list of businesses, including applicant names.
The list includes three granted licenses for Fayette County. They were granted for a tier-one and tier-two cultivator business, along with a processor license, which is for a business that turns raw plant material into products sold at dispensaries.
The list of counties where cultivator and processor licenses have been granted is as follows:
Cultivator tier one (Up to 2,500 square feet):
- L&O Legacies – Boyd County
- Synapse Remedies LLC – Jefferson County
- CW Bluegrass LLC – Daviess County
- Popp Cultivation LLC – Bracken County
- Arizona Bay Investments LLC – Lincoln County
- Wong Investments LLC – Christian County
- Joseph Serock – Christian County
- Elevated Essence LLC – Bullitt County
- Slaughter Branch LLC – Hopkins County
- Goeing Blue LLC – Fayette County
Cultivator tier two (Up to 10,000 square feet):
- NG Health LLC – Fayette County
- Armory Kentucky LLC – Estill County
- JMOKY LLC – Warren County
- Canopy Capital LLC – Grant County
Cultivator tier three (Up to 25,000 square feet):
- Natural State GreenGrass CannaCo LLC – Warren County
- KSYKAPP LLC – Barren County
Processor:
- KYP LLC – Jefferson County
- Kaldem Holdings – Muhlenberg County
- Limestone Processing – Fayette County
- Hilltop Healing Investco – Warren County
- Bijal Kentucky LLC – Boyd County
- AJ Alchemy Labs LLC – Barren County
- Jill’s Dispensary LLC – Christian County
- One Leaf Technologies LLC – Bullitt County
- Ice House Processing, LLC – Fulton County
- LMMKY LLC – Warren County
Do you have a question about medical marijuana in Kentucky for our service journalism team? Send us an email at ask@herald-leader.com or fill out our Know Your Kentucky form.