(LEX 18) — Kentucky awarded its final dispensary business licenses 15 days before the state’s medical marijuana program goes live.

Gov. Andy Beshear and the Office of Medical Cannabis announced dispensary business license winners for Jefferson and Fayette counties and the Bluegrass and Kentuckiana regions at the lottery headquarters in Louisville. Three weeks ago, licenses were awarded for most other counties in Kentucky.

In October, licenses were awarded to cultivators and processors. The reason those licenses were selected first was to give the businesses some extra time before the medical marijuana program goes live on Jan. 1, 2025. However, Beshear warns that supply may be limited in the early weeks of the program.

“It’s my hope that we’ll see it in Q1 of next year – product on the shelf,” said Beshear.

“Certainly, it’s going to take a little bit of time to ultimately get the dispensaries open and to get that product there,” he added.

Part of Kentucky’s program requires all products to be grown in the Commonwealth. So, is there a product currently being grown? The governor’s answer was unclear.

“There’s an ability to bring in seedlings, which is going to help it be grown faster in Kentucky,” he said. “Certainly, our cultivators have been licensed now – for what – about a month, and I know are working as quickly as they can towards that. And there’s at least one cultivator that was Kentucky-based before any and all of this.”

Beshear emphasized that Kentucky is still currently ahead of its original schedule. The initial law that created the medical marijuana program did not allow the state to even take business applications until Jan. 1, 2025.

There has been some criticism over Kentucky’s method of selecting businesses for licenses. Many of the selected companies are owned by out-of-state groups and some local businesses have questioned why current Kentucky businesses were not prioritized.

Sam Flynn, the executive director of the Kentucky Office of Medical Marijuana, defended the state’s lottery system, calling it the “most fair and transparent” way to provide licenses given the limited number available.

Beshear added that he gets the criticisms. He said the lottery system is the state’s way to avoid lawsuits. He said other states’ medical marijuana programs have been delayed due to lawsuits. That’s something Kentucky wanted to avoid.

“We set up this process with the patient in mind, believing that they should be able to get their medical cannabis as quickly as they can,” said Beshear.