LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Medical cannabis is on the ballot for dozens of counties and cities across the commonwealth. Kentuckians will vote on whether medical marijuana businesses can operate in those areas.

A lottery to award licenses to cultivator and processor businesses took place Monday. Medical cannabis will be legal in Kentucky starting at the beginning of 2025.

House Bill 829, which was passed earlier this year, is the reason the Medical Cannabis Program's lottery was able to take place before January.

There were four categories of business licenses for Monday’s lottery: tier I cultivator licenses, tier II cultivator licenses, tier III cultivator licenses and processor licenses. Cultivators grow and harvest medical cannabis in an indoor space; the different tiers represent the square footage of the facility. Processors take the raw material and convert it to medical cannabis products.

Twenty-six medical cannabis cultivator and processor businesses were awarded licenses for the first license lottery out of more than 700 applications.

“I want to thank all of the applicants, and this is only the first step,” said Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky. “There’s a number of different steps they’ll have to go through with the Office of Medical Cannabis. There’ll be inspections, again, making sure we do this right. We only get to set up the Medical Cannabis Program once and the number one thing that we’re focused on is doing it safely and doing it correctly.”

There will also be a lottery for dispensaries. A date will be announced Thursday, Oct. 31.