FRANKFORT, Ky. — Businesses that want to sell, process or grow medical marijuana for Kentucky can start applying for permits starting Monday, part of an accelerated push to have products available in early 2025, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday.

Doctors and advanced practice registered nurses also can begin submitting applications to let them certify eligible patients to buy the drug. The state’s Board of Medical Licensure and Board of Nursing will oversee the process.

The Bluegrass State’s medical cannabis program begins Jan. 1. Kentucky’s Republican-dominated Legislature passed the law with bipartisan support in 2023, legalizing medical cannabis for people suffering from a list of debilitating illnesses. Beshear, a Democrat, quickly signed the measure into law and his administration has been working on program regulations since then.

The governor signed follow-up legislation this past spring moving up the timeline for cannabis business licensing by six months.

The state has already broadcast a series of YouTube webinars, issued a business licensing application guide and other materials to assist applicants. Businesses can apply for licenses through the end of August. The goal is to have some medical cannabis available in January when the products become legal, Beshear has said.

Patients can apply for medical cannabis cards starting Jan. 1 if they have qualifying illnesses, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, epilepsy, chronic nausea or post-traumatic stress disorder.

The state is committed to ensuring Kentuckians with qualifying medical conditions have “safe, affordable access to medical cannabis,” state Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander said Thursday.

In April, Beshear said the state will use a lottery system to award its first round of business licenses.

“The program is focused on ensuring cannabis business licensing is fair, transparent and customer-service oriented,” said Sam Flynn, executive director of the Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis.

The state initially will issue 48 dispensary licenses divided among 11 regions. Each region will get at least four, with most counties limited to one each. The counties home to Louisville and Lexington are the exceptions, and will each be allowed two licenses, Beshear’s administration has said. The first license lottery will be in October.

A limited number of licenses to grow and process cannabis also will be issued.

License caps are meant to avoid flooding the market, which would hurt both businesses and patients, the governor has said. The program can be expanded depending on demand and whether more qualifying medical conditions are added.

“You can always scale up,” Beshear said in April. “Scaling back hurts businesses, hurts people and hurts access.”

LOUISVILLE — Between 2014 and 2021, 6,162 people called the Kentucky Health Justice Network Abortion Support Fund to seek financial help to get an abortion. 

In a new study published last week, researchers analyzed calls made to the abortion support fund and compared them with the Kentucky Department for Public Health’s records of abortions. 

And while the available data paints a picture of life in the years before the United States Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, researchers said they think the data is relevant in a post-Dobbs world. 

“We talk a lot about reproductive autonomy and having the ability to make choices that are best for us and the reproductive context,” said Melissa Eggen, one of the researchers and a faculty member at the University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences. “And we know that in a post Dobbs world, that restrictive policies don’t allow for that agency or autonomy.”  

Eggen and her co-researchers found a higher percentage of people who called the abortion fund for help were Black, younger than 30 and further along in their pregnancies than the population in the KDPH’s abortion records. 

They concluded young, Black Kentuckians were more likely to need financial assistance or emotional support to get an abortion. Medicaid, the federal-state program that pays for health care for lower-income people and those with disabilities, did not cover Kentucky abortions before the procedure was outlawed in most cases. 

“We also know that those are people who are impacted most negatively by poor outcomes” during and after pregnancy, Eggen said. 

In 2023, the KDPH found Black women were twice as likely to die around childbirth than their white counterparts. Kentucky is about 87% white, according to the United States Census Bureau. Meanwhile, about 9% of the population is Black and 4% is Hispanic.  

For the June 21 study, “we’re looking at a period of time in Kentucky when abortion was getting more restricted, but we didn’t have a total ban,” said Mikaela Smith, a research scientist with Ohio Policy Evaluation Network at The Ohio State University. 

“This can serve a little bit as a case study for states that still have abortion available, but are trying to further restrict it. So in that way, we can say…‘Hey, here’s what happened with Kentucky.’” 

The study 

Researchers sought to “assess characteristics of abortion fund callers” with their research. 

To do so, they analyzed KHJN’s administration records showing the age, race and pregnancy gestation of people who called the abortion fund. They then compared those data points with abortion data from the public health department. 

They found the fund “supported” — financially and otherwise — 6,162 people during the seven years before Roe V. Wade was overturned. During that time, 28,741 people had abortions in Kentucky. 

The people who called for help in getting their abortions were more likely to be at least 14 weeks gestation. 

“Compared with state data, KHJN supported a higher percentage of young people, people of color, and people at later gestations,” the report concluded. “These findings support evidence that structurally vulnerable groups are more likely to face barriers to care and that abortion funds provide essential support necessary for reproductive equity.” 

These findings are “not too surprising,” Smith said. However, “being able to apply it in this specific political context felt really important.” 

After weeks of rumor-fueled speculation, the Houston Rockets landed their man with the third overall pick: Kentucky guard Reed Sheppard. It was believed that Houston could take Connecticut big man Donovan Clingan or trade down in an asset grab out of the third slot altogether, but once they were on the clock, it was ultimately Sheppard’s name that was called to the podium.

Sheppard, the most recent addition to Houston’s impressive core of first round lottery talent, is a 6’3 sharpshooter who shot a blistering 52% from long distance during his freshman season at Kentucky. He’ll eventually spread the floor for a Rockets team which was one of the worst shooting units in the entire league last season and had an overall anemic offense. The Rockets boasted a top ten defense for the entirety of the year.

Of course, Houston only had the pick as a result of the 2021 blockbuster trade which sent James Harden to Brooklyn. The pick was originally projected to be ninth but leapfrogged others at the lottery drawing. The Rockets swapped future obligations owed by Brooklyn in 2026 and 2027 on Tuesday night as part of a larger trade which brought back swaps and picks into the future from the Phoenix Suns. Houston is betting big on a Suns implosion.

Sheppard joins a crowded Rockets backcourt which features veteran guard Fred VanVleet and fourth year shooting guard Jalen Green, now eligible for a contract extension. Sophomore guards Amen Thompson and Cam Whitmore will see extended minutes off the bench. It’s unlikely at the moment that Sheppard will initially play a major role in the Rockets’ rotation though he could serve as a replacement for journeyman guard Aaron Holiday.

VanVleet, signed to a three year, $128.54 million last offseason has a club option on his contract in 2025-2026 when he will be owed $44.89 million. If Sheppard develops as hoped, the Rockets could decline the option and part ways with VanVleet, opening up extensive room under the salary cap. Sheppard, like VanVleet, brings a change of pace to Houston’s backcourt, with his shooting and playmaking prowess. He will also be under contract for four full seasons upon signing his rookie scale contract.