FRANKFORT, Ky. — At the end of a grueling, "short" legislative session in Frankfort, lawmakers managed to pass measures legalizing medical marijuana and sports betting on Thursday. Gov. Andy Beshear (D) signed the pair of bills, which have each been years in the making, into law Friday morning.
But when will Senate Bill 47 and House Bill 551 take effect?
Medical marijuana
Kentuckians with qualified medical conditions will have to wait to gain access to medical cannabis under the bill. Senate Bill 47 specifies that the medical marijuana program won't take effect until the start of 2025, to allow time for state health officials to draft regulations to oversee the program.
Beshear took executive action last year to relax the state's prohibition on medical cannabis, but he has said it’s no substitute for outright legalization, which required legislative approval. Beshear's action allows Kentuckians suffering from a number of severe health conditions to legally possess small amounts of medical marijuana properly purchased in another state.
Under the bill signed Friday, medical cannabis could be prescribed for a list of conditions, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, epilepsy, chronic nausea and post-traumatic stress disorder. The bill would prohibit smokable cannabis products.
Under the bill, a person would have to be approved for a card allowing its use. A patient under 18 couldn’t possess or acquire medical cannabis without assistance from a designated caregiver.
Sports betting
Beshear may have signed the bill into law on Friday, but that doesn't mean Kentuckians can place bets on the Final Four this weekend.
The bill allows Kentucky’s horse racing tracks to be licensed as sports betting facilities for a $500,000 upfront fee and an annual renewal cost of $50,000.
Participating tracks could contract with up to three service providers for sports wagering services at the track itself, or through online sites and mobile applications. Service providers would have to pay $50,000 for an initial license and $10,000 a year to renew.
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission would regulate sports wagering operations.
Kentucky's constitution says “no act except general appropriation bills shall become law until 90 days after adjournment of the session at which it was passed.”
That means the earliest sports betting could take effect would be June 28, 2023. It will likely take longer than that for the sports wagering infrastructure to be put into place, but language in the bill says it must be "fully functioning" within six months of its passage.
In short, sports betting should be legal in Kentucky some time between June 28 and December 28, 2023.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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