Kentucky awarded the state’s first medical cannabis license, naming KCA Labs the inaugural testing lab for the upcoming medical market. The lottery for the next set of licenses is set for Oct. 28.
KCA Labs, which is based in Nicholasville, Ky., was one of five labs to apply for a safety compliance facility license, which refers to testing labs. There is no limit of testing labs that the state is prepared to license, so there is no lottery, and the remaining four applicants could potentially get their licenses before the first cultivator or processor.
Almost all of the applications that were submitted throughout July and August were for dispensaries and to a lesser-extend, cultivators and processors.
“After receiving almost 5,000 applications I’m proud to announce that today Kentucky will be issuing its first medical cannabis business license,” said Gov. Andy Beshear during a Sept. 26 live-streamed public address.
KCA Labs has experience testing in the hemp industry, so they will not be starting from scratch in setting up their cannabis testing business.
“We have been performing regulatory and safety testing in the hemp industry since 2019,” said KCA Labs CEO Jonathan Thompson, during Beshear’s public address. “As of September 2024, KCA Labs had over 2,000 customers and clients across almost every state, including 30 other countries.”
Cultivators, processors next in line for licenses
The state will hold lotteries to select 16 cultivators and 10 processors on Monday, Oct. 28.
The Kentucky Lottery Corporation, which operates the state’s lottery program, will conduct the license lotteries in Louisville.
“It will be live streamed so Kentuckians can tune in and follow along, but there won’t be any ping pong balls,” Beshear said. “I want to make sure everybody knows that ahead of time.”
The cultivation licenses are split into separate tiers based on canopy size. Tier I will get 10 licenses, Tier II gets four and Tier III will get two. The state also plans to issue Tier IV cultivation and producer licenses, but not in this initial licensing round.
Tier I cultivation allows up to 2,500 square feet of canopy. Tier II is allowed up to 10,000 s.f. and Tier III can have up to 25,000 s.f. Tier IV will allow up to 50,000 s.f. All cultivation must be indoors.
In total, the program received 4,998 applications, most of which were submitted in the final days of the two-month application window. Dispensary applications totaled 4,076. There were 333 applications for processor licenses and 584 for cultivation.
Subsequently, lotteries will be held for the 48 dispensaries that will be distributed across 11 regions based on population density.
“We’re going to announce the date of that lottery at a later date, it will likely be in November,” said Beshear. “The reason we’re holding off on naming a date is I’m hoping [Office of Medical Cannabis Executive Director] Sam Flynn can beat the projected date that we’re looking at.”
