FORT WRIGHT, Ky. — Starting in 2025, businesses that were awarded licenses will be allowed to start producing and selling medical cannabis in Kentucky, but that doesn’t mean dispensaries will be up and running right away.
Jay Armstrong and his business partners have been operating Dripwell Vapors in Fort Wright for about seven years. The business is the recipient of one of four dispensary licenses in the northern Kentucky region.
While they’ll continue to operate their current store, they’ll soon be taking on a new venture in medical cannabis.
“I used to not view medical cannabis as something that was very serious," Armstrong said. "For me, it was just a liberty issue."
However, a town hall at Northern Kentucky University a few years ago ignited his passion.
“There were some moms there that had some kids with some pretty serious seizure disorders," Armstrong said. "And after talking to those people, to look at a mother and say that ‘Your kid is going to die, and I don’t care because I don’t like that plant,’ is crazy to me."
He said the goal of the vape shop is to minimize harm, and the same will be true for Bluegrass Cannacare, the medical cannabis dispensary they’re planning to open in Florence. Armstrong will be assistant general manager.
“We sell nicotine products, we believe, in a responsible manner," he said. "If you take some time and look at the products we have on the shelf, there’s no pictures of cartoon characters, no pictures of candy, none of that stuff. There are zero brand advertisements on the walls, not a single one, and that is very unlike a vapor store.”
“Someone with that mindset needed to be in the medical dispensary world.”
Armstrong said he and his partners plan to educate future customers about the safest ways to consume cannabis products, but that may still be a few months away.
“The cultivators aren’t allowed to get started until January, so you're looking at April, at the very earliest, to have any kind of crop ready,” he said.
His business had less than a 2% chance of receiving its license through the Northern Kentucky region lottery, which saw hundreds of applicants and only four licenses awarded.
He's not taking the opportunity for granted, he said.
“Bluegrass Cannacare is taking medical cannabis seriously as a medical product,” he said. “We will be picking what we think are the least-potential-for-harm products. The way that the product will affect the customer is No. 1 for us.”
Armstrong said they’re proud to be an in-state business that’s been around for years. He's hopeful adult-use cannabis will eventually become legalized in Kentucky, he added, which he thinks would continue to expand the industry and make the product safer.