Lexington, Scottsville City, and Kenton County decide on marijuana business rules

Medical marijuana will be legal in Kentucky starting Jan. 1, 2025. Each individual city is responsible for creating the zoning regulations to either allow or ban medical marijuana businesses from opening. 

Cities must have these regulations in place by June 30th as the state begins to issue medical marijuana business licenses. If these businesses start operations before the city creates such rules, they will be grandfathered against any future regulation.

Kenton County may ban cannabis businesses

At a fiscal court meeting on Tuesday, June 11, Kenton County conducted the first reading of an ordinance that would prohibit cannabis businesses within the county’s territorial limits.

“It is our first reading relating to the prohibition of cannabis business operations in Kenton County,” Judge Kris Knochelmann said. “This is the opting out of medical cannabis.”

“If the cities want to take individual action to be proactive, they can do that,” Knochelmann said.

The Kenton County Fiscal Court’s next meeting is slated for June 25 at 5:30 p.m.

Lexington leaders prepare guidelines for medical marijuana businesses

Lexington city officials are set to vote in the coming weeks on where medical marijuana operators can be located in the county.

According to state law, cities and counties had the choice to opt in or opt out of medical marijuana operations.

“We do see the value in this for health purposes. It’s important that we have the healthcare options available to our citizens,” said Jim Duncan, Director of Planning for the City of Lexington.

Areas already zoned for retail spaces may be good locations for future medical marijuana dispensaries.

Duncan says they will have zoning regulations in place for the growers, processors, producers, safety compliance facilities, and dispensaries. Duncan says the growers could one day have a facility in the city’s urban service area.

“We wanted to make sure that we were in place so that any operators could know what they needed to do as far as selecting a location and whether they were eligible to do that,” said Duncan.

Duncan explains that as far as licensing goes, the state will grant the permit, and the city’s Department of Revenue will grant the business license.

Duncan says the zoning regulations and licensing structure will have two readings. The first reading was earlier this month. A final vote will take place on June 27.

Scottsville City Council passes final vote on ordinance banning medical cannabis business in the city

The Scottsville City Council passed the second and final vote on an ordinance banning the medical cannabis business from coming to their city earlier this month.

The ban covers all business licenses for cannabis production, including cultivation, processing and dispensing. According to city mayor David Burch, the vote has spurred little controversy.

Burch says, “We pride ourselves on a certain quality of life, a certain projection and an outward appearance, and I think [medical marijuana businesses] just wasn’t going to fit into the plan. I think that was the consensus.”

The mayor said he understands that medical cannabis may be helpful for some citizens, but he expects Bowling Green to have at least one dispensary to serve that need. Qualifying patients would need to drive about a half hour to access dispensaries when the program takes effect in 2025.