Auditor announces investigation of how Kentucky awarded medical cannabis licenses
Kentucky legalized medical marijuana in 2023 and began licensing growers, processors and dispensaries last year. (Getty Images)
Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball plans to investigate how the state's Office of Medical Cannabis (OMC) processed license applications, she announced Thursday.
Ball's office will be 'examining OMC's business license application and award processes,' her office said.
'My office has continued to receive complaints about how the Office of Medical Cannabis administered the lottery process for awarding medical cannabis business licenses,' Ball, a Republican, said in a statement. 'Kentuckians should have confidence that state offices operate with transparency and integrity, and my office is committed to ensuring those standards.'
Crystal Staley, a spokeswoman for Beshear, said 'no one has filed a legal claim challenging Kentucky's medical cannabis laws or the Office of Medical Cannabis' regulations.'
'Throughout the entire process we have been committed to transparency, which is why the lottery process was streamed live and online,' Staley said. 'The individuals who have come forward to express 'concerns' went through the full process and did not complain until after not being selected in the lottery.'
In 2023, the legislature legalized medical marijuana for Kentuckians suffering from chronic illnesses. Last year, the bipartisan House Bill 829 became law and moved up the medical cannabis licensing timeline from January 2025 to July 1, 2024.
During the application period, which was July 1–Aug. 31, the state received 4,998 applications for medical cannabis business licenses, including 918 cultivator and processor applications.
Patients who qualify for medical cannabis are those with a history of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cancer or other approved medical conditions.
The Kentucky Lottery Corporation ran the license lottery.
Beshear said Thursday during his weekly press conference that 'more than 12,000 Kentuckians have received a written certification and more than 8,000 have successfully applied for and received a medical cannabis card' since January.
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