Kentucky awarded the first 36 medical marijuana dispensary licenses by lottery on Monday, but controversy over an earlier lottery round threatens to taint the process.
According to Kentucky Public Radio, the October licensing lottery was dominated by out-of-state companies, which won most of the permits.
During Monday’s drawing – the first of two for dispensary licenses – four operators were selected per each of nine geographic zones – out of a pool of nearly 5,000 applicants – for dispensary permits, the Kentucky Lantern reported.
Lottery winners must pay a licensing fee within 15 days of their selection or risk forfeiting their permit, officials said.
The 26 companies chosen for cultivator and processor permits in the October lottery have all been licensed, according to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
But initial reports suggest that, as in other states, out-of-state interests have dominated what Kentucky politicians promised would be a fair process.
According to Kentucky Public Radio, roughly 75% of those companies have “no current ties to Kentucky, and instead had ties to large out-of-state cannabis companies that flooded the state with expensive applications.”
A review of business records by the news outlet revealed that Sean Clarkson, a co-founder of Arkansas-based Dark Horse Cannabis, organized 350 new businesses to enter the Kentucky lottery and submitted at least 104 of the 918 applications considered for cultivation and processor licenses.
Beshear defended the lottery, telling Kentucky Public Radio that Clarkson has no ownership interests in the companies selected for permits.
Applications for business permits were accepted from July 1 until the end of August.
Kentucky’s second lottery for dispensary licenses is scheduled for Dec. 16.
The launch date for the Kentucky Medical Cannabis Program is Jan. 1, 2025.
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