Kentucky governor announces lottery to award initial round of medical cannabis business licenses WHIO TV 7 and WHIO Radio [Video]

FRANKFORT, Ky. — (AP) — Kentucky will use a lottery system to award an initial round of licenses to businesses competing to participate in the state’s startup medical cannabis program, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Thursday.

The governor called it a fair way to give each applicant that clears the screening process an opportunity to land a license for the program, which launches statewide at the start of 2025.

The lottery, set for October, should remove any temptation to lobby in an effort to “get a leg up in different ways that we don’t want to see,” Beshear said at his weekly news conference.

“It reduces or eliminates litigation, and it creates a more fair process, not one where people bid against each other and only then the big companies can be a part of it,” the governor said. “But one that provides at least a chance for everyone who can …