A Kentucky medical marijuana cultivation facility has harvested its first yield of cannabis, and patients could gain access to it by next month, a top regulator says. Meanwhile, the governor says licensed businesses are about to “grow a whole lot more” as the program gets underway.
Cannon Armstrong, executive director of the Office of Medical Cannabis (OMC), said one of the state’s cultivators “produced their first harvest, and it’s up to the cultivator and the licensee on where they move and when they move on that.”
“I suspect that if we’re going to try and say timeframes—that it’ll definitely be before the end of the year, we’re hopeful that it may be November,” he told WAVE 3.
That pushes back the timeline slightly after Armstrong previously estimated a few weeks ago that sales could begin this month—but Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said this is just the start of a robust medical cannabis market in the commonwealth.
“Since taking office, my administration has been committed to providing access to health care and safe communities for all Kentuckians,” the governor said. “One of our priorities is ensuring that Kentuckians that are suffering from serious medical issues like cancer, PTSD or multiple sclerosis can have safe access to medical cannabis as soon as possible to get the relief they need.”
He also announced that, although licensed operators are actively growing cannabis plants to bring to market, “we’re about to grow a whole lot more,” adding that as of Thursday, OMC approved “another cultivator to begin cultivation activities here in Kentucky, and this one is a big one.”
Beshear was talking about Natural State GreenGrass CannaCo, a tier III cultivation facility, which is “one of the two largest cultivation facilities in Kentucky.”
“They’ll eventually expand all 25,000 square feet of cultivation space,” he said. “This operator and so many more will help us ensure for years to come that Kentuckians suffering from serious medical conditions can get the relief they deserve.”
Last month, Beshear said he thought medical marijuana would be available to Kentucky patients by the end of 2025.
“The medical marijuana program is moving forward,” he said at a press briefing at the time.
“I think most of our dispensaries now have their home address [and] are set about where they’re going to be, but [for] some of the inspections that have to happen in dispensaries, they have to have product that’s there,” he said. “So I do believe they’ll be operating before the end of the year.”
Those comments came roughly a month after the governor announced that the state’s first medical cannabis dispensary has officially been approved for operations, calling it “another step forward as we work to ensure Kentuckians with serious medical conditions have access to the medicine they need and deserve.
He previously touted an earlier “milestone” in the state’s forthcoming medical marijuana program, with a licensed cultivator producing “the first medical cannabis inventory in Kentucky history.”
Beshear’s office has said that other cannabis licensees, including processors and testing labs, are expected to become operational soon.
In July, Beshear sent a letter to President Donald Trump, urging him to reject congressional spending bill provisions that would prevent the Justice Department from rescheduling marijuana.
In the letter to the president, he emphasized that a pending proposal to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) is something “you supported in your presidential campaign.”
“That process should be allowed to play out. Americans deserve leadership that won’t move the goalposts on them in the middle of the game,” Beshear said, noting that he was among the tens of thousands who submitted public comments in favor of the reform after it was initiated under the Biden administration, “demonstrating broad public interest in rescheduling.”
“I joined that effort because this is about helping people. Rescheduling would provide suffering patients the relief they need,” the governor said. “It would ensure communities are safer—because legal medical products reduce the illicit market. It would provide new, meaningful research on health benefits.”
Beshear also mentioned a letter to DEA he signed onto last year urging rescheduling, “because the jury is no longer out on marijuana. It has medical benefits.”
Back on the state level, the governor recently said he acknowledges that “it’s taken longer than we would have liked” to stand up the industry since he signed medical marijuana legalization into law in 2023.
In recognition of that delayed implementation, he recently signed an executive order to waive renewal fees for patients who get their cards this year so that they don’t get charged again before retailers open. And another order he signed providing protections for qualified patients who obtain medical marijuana outside of Kentucky “will stay in place.”
Beshear separately announced in May that the state has launched a new online directory that lets people see where medical cannabis dispensaries will be opening near them.
He emphasized that the state has been working to deliver access to patients “at the earliest possible date,” and that involved expediting the licensing process. The governor in January also ceremonially awarded the commonwealth’s first medical marijuana cards.
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Meanwhile, the governor sent a letter to Kentucky’s congressional delegation in January, “urging them to take decisive action to protect the constitutional rights of our law abiding medical cannabis patients” by repealing the federal ban on gun possession by people who use marijuana.
That came after bipartisan Kentucky senators filed legislation that similarly called on the state’s federal representatives to take corrective action, which Beshear said he supports but would like to see even more sweeping change on the federal level.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) warned Kentucky residents late last year that, if they choose to participate in the state’s medical marijuana program, they will be prohibited from buying or possessing firearms under federal law.
As far as the implementation of the state’s medical cannabis law goes, Beshear said in his State of the Commonwealth address in January that patients will have access to cannabis sometime “this year.” He also later shared tips for patients to find a doctor and get registered to participate in the cannabis program.
Health practitioners have been able to start assessing patients for recommendations since the beginning of December.
While there currently aren’t any up-and-running dispensaries available to patients, Beshear has further affirmed that an executive order he signed in 2023 will stay in effect in the interim, protecting patients who possess medical cannabis purchased at out-of-state licensed retailers.
During last year’s November election, Kentucky also saw more than 100 cities and counties approve local ordinances to allow medical cannabis businesses in their jurisdictions. The governor said the election results demonstrate that “the jury is no longer out” on the issue that is clearly supported by voters across partisan and geographical lines.
Photo courtesy of California State Fair.
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