Medical Cannabis Patient Certification Opens in Kentucky Next Month

Kentucky is opening medical cannabis patient certifications on December 1, WLKY reports. During his Team Kentucky update last week, Gov. Andy Beshear said on that day a page will launch on kymedcan.ky.gov to connect patients with more than 150 authorized medical cannabis practitioners. 

Patients certified by a healthcare provider will be able to apply for medical cannabis ID cards on January 1.  

Beshear did indicate that it remains unclear whether medical cannabis will be available for patients by January – the lottery drawing for retail licenses for some sites in the state is not set until December 16, while others are set to be announced this week.  

In 2022, Beshear issued an executive order allowing individuals with certain severe medical conditions and who meet specific requirements to be able to possess and consume small amounts of cannabis purchased from a state with legal access. That order, while providing relief for a small number of patients, also led to a patchwork of medical cannabis hospital policies in the state.   

Beshear signed the Legislature-approved legislation into law on March 31, 2023. The law does not allow patients to access smokable cannabis products but permits edibles and concentrates.  

The bill’s qualifying conditions for the medical cannabis program include any type or form of cancer, regardless of the stage; chronic, severe, intractable, or debilitating pain; epilepsy or any other intractable seizure disorder; multiple sclerosis, muscle spasms, or spasticity; chronic nausea or cyclical vomiting syndrome that has proven resistant to other conventional medical treatments; and post-traumatic stress disorder. The measure allows the Kentucky Center for Cannabis Research to add medical conditions to the list.