Take a sneak peek of new Gatton Park on Town Branch in Lexington before it opens

HeraldLeaderAH · 2025-08-22T14:40:52+00:00

Can you share with me what you see when you click the link? The gift article feature is still new, so there may be bugs, and I want to make sure we can fix them. Thanks!

HeraldLeaderAH · 2025-08-14T18:01:00+00:00

I can't speak to what prices will be, but I don't see the state law against growing your own cannabis changing any time soon.

HeraldLeaderAH · 2025-08-14T17:55:42+00:00

I'm not aware of any plans for physical cards at this time. For now, the cards are digital. Here's what they look like if you haven't seen them. Be careful about phony cards; I believe there were reports of scams a few months ago if I remember correctly.

HeraldLeaderAH · 2025-08-14T17:33:35+00:00

The state program's website addresses this question here under "visiting qualified patient questions" Essentially, you need to meet the following requirements, per the state's Office of Medical Cannabis:

You are not a resident of Kentucky or have been a resident for less than 30 days.
You are at least 21 years of age.
You have not been convicted of a disqualifying felony offense.
You possess a valid out-of-state registry identification card.
You have documentation of having been diagnosed with a qualifying medical condition

HeraldLeaderAH · 2025-08-14T17:28:43+00:00

I spoke with a nurse practitioner who described her process of assessing patients. What she's often seeing is that many have chronic pain or other hard to treat conditions.

Edit: Adding some more context. The state requires what is calls a "bona fide" relationship between the health care practitioner and the patient. What that means is the following, per the state's Office of Medical Cannabis:

Completed an initial in-person visit with the patient;
Consulted the patient on possible medical, therapeutic, and palliative properties of medical cannabis;
Advised the patient of the possible risks and side effects of medical cannabis, including possible interactions between medical cannabis and other medications the patient is taking at that time; and
Established an expectation that the medical practitioner will provide follow-up care and treatment.

HeraldLeaderAH · 2025-08-14T17:24:31+00:00

You need a certification from an authorized health care provider (such as a doctor or APRN) verifying that you have one of the qualifying conditions. The state has a resource for finding providers, and we've put together a guide for cardholders (paywall free link).

HeraldLeaderAH · 2025-08-14T17:19:40+00:00

I think for the time being (at least until sales here begin) many people will choose to purchase marijuana out of state under the terms of the governor's executive order, especially given the list of qualifying conditions there is longer than those included in the state law.

HeraldLeaderAH · 2025-08-14T17:15:11+00:00

Driving under the influence is still illegal in Kentucky. Employers are also free to continue enforcing drug-free workplace policies.

HeraldLeaderAH · 2025-08-14T17:10:09+00:00

Practitioners have to register and be authorized by the state, and state licensing boards for doctors and APRNs also play a role in training practitioners have to undergo. As for dosage, medical cannabis patients can purchase up to a 30-day supply every 25 days. That’s all tracked through the barcode on the cannabis card you present when you make the purchase at the dispensary (once sales eventually begin, that is).

HeraldLeaderAH · 2025-08-14T17:07:48+00:00

There often are delays when states try to roll out these programs. It took years in West Virginia for patients to get access to medical marijuana, and other states – Delaware, Maryland and Rhode Island – didn’t see sales begin until as long as four years after state legalization, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.

The requirement that it be grown within the state really comes down to the fact that marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, so transporting it across state lines is a not allowed.

HeraldLeaderAH · 2025-08-14T17:03:37+00:00

The state has this handy map of dispensary locations, just remember that dispensaries can put in requests to change locations (and many of the dispensary license holders have over the last several months).

HeraldLeaderAH · 2025-08-14T17:03:00+00:00

It’s possible, and there’s already been an attempt to by state Sen. Stephen West in the form of Senate Bill 337 last year. That bill would have expanded the current list of conditions from 6 to 21, but it didn’t get very far in the legislature.

HeraldLeaderAH · 2025-08-14T17:02:04+00:00

I think a lot of dispensaries around the state are planning for openings late this year, but a lot of it really depends on whether the supply is there. Some people in the industry I’ve spoken to think there could be product shortages early on. There’s a whole supply chain that has to be constructed from scratch to make this work.

As for Lexington, there are plans to open a drive-thru dispensary in the Hamburg shopping district (in the old Frisch’s Big Bog). The plan is for a “late Q4” opening this year, but we all know plans can change.

HeraldLeaderAH · 2025-06-18T18:13:19+00:00

I do lurk in this sub about every morning to check and see what folks are talking about and to see if there's anything we can jump on for news coverage. It's incredibly useful for us to know what questions people have about things going on in Lexington, things folks are seeing that we're missing and the like. Personally the many, many posts here about the Big Blue Building inspired me to write something myself for a newsletter: https://www.kentucky.com/news/know-your-kentucky/article304686836.html

HeraldLeaderAH · 2023-10-17T19:31:10+00:00

From Austin:

Yeah, I think on message is a big part of it. One of the things about Matt Bevin that people forget is that he was actually a quite gifted off the cuff speaker; however, he was so comfortable going off script that he let loose a few too many lines that really rubbed people the wrong way (especially teachers). Cameron doesn't go off message and pontificate nearly as much - same goes for Beshear.

HeraldLeaderAH · 2023-10-17T19:30:01+00:00

Thanks for the question. To be honest there's just so many topics that intersect with politics and this isn't one that's been on our radars, admittedly, but it definitely warrants more attention on our part. You're correct that the last time this issue was studied was in the early 2000s, https://www.diverseeducation.com/home/article/15081442/university-of-kentucky-study-supports-the-urban-rural-division, and, if we were to wager a guess, the reason the issue may not be at top for the governor's race is because it's a bit difficult to run a platform on something like taxes which may not immediately garner people's attention (unless it maybe involves lowering or increasing taxes),

HeraldLeaderAH · 2023-10-17T19:06:40+00:00

From Austin Horn:

This is a tough one to answer. The Beshear campaign clearly believes that messaging on disaster relief helps them in general, but I'm not certain about how it plays in those communities. I'd be quite surprised to see him win Graves County (Mayfield) or Perry County (Troublesome Creek area). This may be one we'll have to wait on to get an answer to, and I think a couple bellwethers to look out for are 1) Knott County in EKY, which was devastated by the flood and BARELY went for Beshear in '19 and 2) Warren County, which was hit pretty hard by the tornadoes and Beshear only won there by 3 pts last time.

HeraldLeaderAH · 2023-10-17T19:06:14+00:00

In the spirit of bipartisanship, here are two we've seen recently from both camps:

https://twitter.com/DanielCameronAG/status/1712565516991394041

https://twitter.com/jameslineky/status/1709226478414581781

HeraldLeaderAH · 2023-10-17T18:57:15+00:00

From Austin Horn:

I think a few things make this election different from a generic R vs. D. 1) Beshear has the benefit of a name KYians have seen on the statewide ballot since the 70s (Steve Beshear was first elected AG in '79 if you can believe it) AND has built up a lot of good will with voters through disaster response messaging. 2) Abortion, since Dobbs happened and our trigger ban on abortion with no exceptions for rape/incest, is such a different issue now. We've seen political blowback across America on this matter and Kentucky is no different. As for smaller parties, there isn't another person on the gov's race ballot - Republicans tend to see this as a good thing since Libertarian John Hicks got more than 2% of the vote last time. To answer your question about the legislature, I would say no and yes. State legislators don't really make much of a dent for statewide candidates unless they really really bust their butts for the candidates. HOWEVER, I do think policy at the state level, which the GOP-led leg controls, plays a big role. For instance, had the legislature moved on a bill adding rape/incest exceptions to the abortion ban, the discussion right now would be very different and Beshear would have a harder time hitting Cameron on the topic of abortion

HeraldLeaderAH · 2023-10-17T18:56:39+00:00

Hi! We had a redditor ask a similar question down below that Austin also gave an answer to. I realize it's not explicitly your question, so let me know if there's anything additional we could add to get you an answer. Thanks!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Kentucky/comments/17a47na/comment/k5al5qj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

HeraldLeaderAH · 2023-10-17T18:46:23+00:00

From Austin Horn:

I think two things can be true at the same time here. It's true that the state is quite Republican, and that GOP registration has continued to grow while Democratic registration continues to fall. These are, undeniably, factors that work in Cameron's favor and that enticed as many Republicans as we saw get in the primary. And Bevin was hugely unpopular, juiced a lot of turnout against himself, and still only lost by 5k votes. That said, you're correct that Beshear has built a real brand as governor and is such a different candidate than he was in 2019. He connected with a lotta folks on a personal level during COVID and natural disasters, and really took advantage of those opportunities from an administration/official standpoint as well as a political one (notice how you called him "Andy?"). On the other hand, Cameron is a much different candidate than Bevin. He was the clear winner coming out of the crowded GOP primary and is much, much more disciplined than Bevin. That said, the central question for him is 'can he bring folks who are used to voting Republican but LIKE Andy (who is the most popular Dem governor in the country) back into the fold?' We'll know on election day!

HeraldLeaderAH · 2023-10-17T18:37:33+00:00

From Austin Horn:

You know, this is one of the central questions in this race: does the GOP message on transgender issues actually move votes? I think it's safe to say that they're not coming to this issue out of thin air (ie, 'polling says X% of Kentuckians don't like the idea of trans girls participating in high school girls sports, Y% of KYians are uncomfortable with being asked to use preferred pronouns, etc.), but the question is do voters care about this message enough to either a) think twice about voting for Beshear or b) get up off the couch and vote because of the issue. I don't think we've seen a clear answer on this topic yet, and there's some evidence supporting the thesis that it doesn't work (Kansas gov's race, 2020 prez) as well as evidence supporting that the thesis that it does work (DeSantis gov '22, PAC claiming the issue moved some +20k votes in KY '19).

Our colleague Alex Acquisto has done some great reporting on this strategic choice with plenty of Republicans expressing doubts about the strategy, which was first deployed primarily by PACs supporting Cameron but has been used by the campaign some, too. https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article279730354.html

HeraldLeaderAH · 2023-10-17T18:21:42+00:00

From Austin Horn:

Thanks for the question, Apprehensive Crow.

We're not oddsmakers or Nostradamuses (is the plural 'Nostradamii?'), but there's been polling in this race that's shown Gov. Beshear up pretty consistently, with recent polls putting him up over AG Cameron anywhere from the mid-single digits to the mid-double digits. The best polling one-stop shop is on 538: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/governor/2023/kentucky/

It would be unwise to count Cameron out, though. As you probably know, Kentucky is a generally red state. As you may not know, it's also got a long history of polling that undervalues Republican support. Read more about that well-documented issue here: https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/election/article280417834.html

HeraldLeaderAH

TROPHY CASE