LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – In January, a new law went into effect, establishing a medical cannabis program in Kentucky.
Two-thirds of 2025 have passed, and as of now, there aren’t any dispensaries in the Commonwealth open for purchasing medical cannabis products.
You may be asking what’s taking so long to bring this law into reality.
Cannon Armstrong, the executive director of the Office of Medical Cannabis, says the process takes time.
“Those businesses have to go out there and create actual spaces; they have to build, they have to construct,” Armstrong said. “Doing that in nine months, it’s a daunting task at times.”
There is progress. Armstrong says one dispensary has been approved for operations in Ohio County, but it has not opened yet. Two testing facilities are getting ready to come online, and two cultivators are running.
Casey Flippo is the chief executive officer of Gold Leaf Management.
That company will oversee a new business called Speakeasy dispensary. They are in the process of remodeling the former Frisch’s Big Boy restaurant in Lexington’s Hamburg shopping area for their new venture.
“Trust me. We know that you guys want this. We know that you guys are ready for it. There are a lot of hurdles to do this the proper way,”said Flippo.
Flippo’s company is out of Arkansas, which has medical marijuana. He says the Kentucky Office of medical cannabis is handling this timeline the right way.
“Are there ways to expedite things. There always are, but what I think what you’ll find is that cutting those corners early, you are going to create problems downstream,” said Flippo.
We’re told this dispensary will be one of the first in a Kentucky metro area.
We’re told there’s a grower in Graves County in western Kentucky that’s imported 26 hundred seedling marijuana plants from out of state. Growers can import one time to jump-start the program.
Speakeasy Dispensary plans to do a VIP soft opening in mid to late October, and the goal is to have the dispensary open for business by mid-November.
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