LINK nky: Kentucky cities consider medical marijuana regulations
UC Blue Ash economics professor says existing state laws seek to protect children
With medical marijuana set to become legal in Kentucky in 2025, cities in Kenton County have to decide whether they’ll allow medical cannabis businesses to operate in their jurisdictions, LINK nky reported.
Keshar Ghimire, PhD, associate professor of economics at UC Blue Ash
While medical cannabis will become legal next year, local governments can pass zoning restrictions on cannabis cultivation, processing, production and dispensaries to go along with existing statewide regulations.
“Kentucky has passed a pretty comprehensive medical cannabis law,” said Keshar Ghimire, PhD, an associate professor of economics at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College. “They have a long list of qualifying conditions.”
Among the state requirements already in place is a 1,000-foot separation between a cannabis business and an “existing school or daycare.”
“This requirement addresses the concern that [cannabis] dispensaries, when nearby, have the potential to influence minors’ attitude and/or access to marijuana,” Ghimire said. “The distance also ensures that whatever criminal and other unwanted activities that may happen near dispensaries don’t affect the school environment.”
Featured image at top: Marijuana in a cannabis dispensary. Photo/Budding via Unsplash
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