LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For the 2024 election, medical cannabis was on the ballot for more than 100 counties and cities across the commonwealth. Residents of those areas voted on whether to allow medical cannabis businesses to operate.

What You Need To Know

  • People in over 100 counties and cities voted on whether to allow medical cannabis businesses to operate in their area

  • Dozens of counties and cities had opted in or out of this initiative prior to the election

  • Ferguson in Pulaski County opted in to allow medical cannabis businesses to operate within its city limits before the election

  • Pulaski County had opted out, also before the election

Hardin, Scott and Nelson counties are some of the counties where “yes” on the medical cannabis initiatives are ahead, according to projected results. Georgetown in Scott County and Florence in Boone County’s “yes” votes are also ahead.

Before election day, many other cities and counties had already opted in or out of this initiative. The city of Ferguson in Pulaski County opted in.

“It would help people and it’d also, you know, bring in some revenue to the city which is always good, never a bad thing,” said Ferguson Mayor Allen Dobbs.

Even though Ferguson opted in, Pulaski County did not. Since medical cannabis will be legal for Kentuckians with qualifying medical conditions at the start of the new year, those in Pulaski County that are outside of Ferguson will be able to access medical cannabis in Ferguson.

“It will bring a little relief because they’re not all having to travel so far,” said Dobbs. “They can come right here, five, 10, 15 minutes here to the little city of Ferguson and get their prescriptions filled.”

Those in support of medical cannabis say that there is misinformation about this issue that has led to people being opposed to it.

“A lot of the time it takes taking the regulators and local government to a facility that’s already operating so that they can see that it is legitimate, it is safe, that it is a benefit for patients and the community as a whole,” said Paula Savchenko, the founder of Cannacore Group. She is a lawyer who helps cannabis businesses with their license applications, including several in Kentucky.

Dobbs hopes that more people become open-minded about cannabis and its benefits.

“I encourage anybody… do your research, listen,” said Dobbs. “Before you close the door on it, look at it and think about it and look at the good it can do.”

Now the city waits for a medical cannabis business to get its license to operate there.

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