The Leitchfield City Council met Monday afternoon in a special-called session.
On the meeting’s agenda was a discussion on whether to allow a medical cannabis dispensary in the city limits of Leitchfield.
The council has four options to choose from:
- Opt-in by ordinance
- Opt-out by ordinance
- Let voters decide (if voters opt to not allow a dispensary to operate in the city, the city must wait four years to vote again on the matter, or take other action)
- Do nothing and whatever county government decides will apply to the city
Medical cannabis will be available beginning January 1, 2025, to people with the following diseases/health issues and disorders:
- Chronic or debilitating pain
- Epilepsy or any other seizure disorder
- Multiple sclerosis, muscle spasms, or spasticity
- Chronic nausea or cyclical vomiting syndrome that has been proven resistant to other conventional medical treatments
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Any other medical condition or disease that the Kentucky Center for Cannabis determines.
The state will initially issue 48 medical cannabis dispensary licenses in 11 regions around the commonwealth. Each region will be allotted no more than four dispensary licenses (except Louisville and Lexington’s regions which can have up to six), and counties will be limited to one dispensary, except Jefferson and Fayette counties, which will have two, according to Sam Flynn, Executive Director of Kentucky’s medical cannabis program
Dispensaries are prohibited from being operated within 1,000 feet of an existing elementary or secondary school or daycare center. Local governments may issue additional restrictions.
Grayson County is in region 9, along with Breckinridge, Meade, Hardin, Nelson, Washington, Marion, Taylor, Green, Adair, Hart, and LaRue counties.
Haycraft’s passionate plea
Councilman Clayton Miller was the first council member to voice an opinion on medical cannabis dispensaries when he said he thought the best avenue was to allow the citizens of Leitchfield to decide the issue in the voting booth.
Miller added: “I’ve got some injuries and I can get the card, so, I understand.”
Council member Dennis Fentress, later in the meeting, agreed with Miller while saying he has a “close friend who has uncontrollable seizures and this (medical cannabis) is the only thing that helps …”
Councilwoman Jeanna Carnes said she supports opting-in.
Councilwoman Terri Alvey Haycraft then issued a passionate statement on why she believes a dispensary should be allowed to operate in the city:
“Our legislators have made medicinal marijuana legal in Kentucky. Are we going to make them (people who qualify for medical cannabis) leave our county to receive the medicine. Think about the hardship that you’re going to be putting on whoever the patient is who has one of those … I think it’s six defined conditions that would be eligible to receive a medical cannabis card. That caregiver, that parent or guardian is going to have to get someone else to come watch their child who is under the age of 18 and have to leave them for we don’t know how long, to go travel to get access to something that the state has already deemed is going to be legal in the state of Kentucky.
“So, we’re not talking about the legality of it. The state made that decision for us. What we are talking about is whether we are going to allow them the opportunity to have local access to medical cannabis. If we opt-in by ordinance, the city of Leitchfield will have the opportunity to be awarded a dispensary.
“We’re not guaranteed … (we’ll) be put in the lottery which will take place in October. If we wait and put this on the ballot in November, we missed the lottery … I’m having a really hard time with this because we’re talking about medication. At what point have we EVER; any type of medication, at what point have we ever had it on a ballot that voters decide whether someone can have local access to a medication?
“This is medication, this is not recreational. If it were recreational, one-hundred percent put it on the ballot. But this is medication that has been professionally diagnosed by an individual, a doctor, saying that this will benefit someone with cancer, someone with PTSD, someone with multiple sclerosis, there’s three or four more other conditions that are listed; the state has been very specific as to who can even apply for this.
“Our only job is to decide, up here as a council, is whether we are going to opt-in by ordinance. And I firmly believe that the city of Leitchfield needs to opt-in by ordinance.”
Following Haycraft’s plea, the council held a vote on a resolution that would place the decision in voters’ hands in November. The resolution was voted down 4-2, as Miller and Fentress were the two council members who voted yea.
City Attorney Earlene Wilson then held the first reading of an ordinance stipulating that a dispensary will be allowed inside the city limits.
The council will vote on the matter at the second and final reading of the proposed ordinance at the next regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, August 5.
Click here to read a comprehensive overview of Kentucky’s medical cannabis program.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
