More than 10,000 Kentuckians can legally use medical cannabis for various ailments, but right now there is no where to buy it in the state.

It's not just that dispensaries aren't open.

No plants are being grown at this moment.

Still, state officials and industry leaders say the product could arrive in stores as early as this summer.

Our Jim Leffler has this update on the rollout of Kentucky's medical marijuana program.

Eventually, this dispensary in Louisville will sell medical marijuana.

The sign is there, but the storefront is still being built out.

Insulation and sprinklers are exposed.

Every part of Kentucky's brand new medical marijuana supply chain is still in the works.

And it's not just a matter of opening stores.

Everything has to be grown here.

Everything has to be processed here.

Everything has to be tested here.

Everything has to be retail here.

Brad Clark runs a boutique law firm for those in the process of setting up their medical marijuana business that includes dispensaries, processors and cultivators.

Clark says the cultivators, the folks that grow the plant are getting their facilities ready for a state inspection all before seeds hit soil.

Because this was an application process, it was a lottery.

I mean, don't be wrong.

There were a lot of hoops you had to jump through, but you didn't have to prove complete viability.

Businesses hadn't settled on their dream location during the lottery.

Many of Clark's clients had to find the right home.

You know, a lot of times an entrepreneur will build just enough to get through the phase that they're in, right?

Because it doesn't make sense to overbuild.

Right.

And so we didn't know at the time that they were going to be plumbing issues with that location.

It wouldn't be sufficient for the amount of water that would have to go to the facility.

So that facility had to be moved.

Businesses are also navigating zoning laws.

You know, there are certain restrictions at the state level.

You can't be within 1000ft of a school.

You can't be within 1000ft of a daycare.

Local localities also could pass their own zoning ordinances, and sometimes they didn't pass them until well into the process, after people had already applied.

State law dictates how many businesses can reside in one city or county.

That means 19 shops that won the lottery had to find a new location in a new town.

But there has been news of cultivators setting up shop.

Colorado based Cintas Farms publicly broke ground on a growth facility being constructed in Monticello.

The company says it could have the product out the door next January.

Another out of state company, Cresco, unveiled its grow location in a former factory in Winchester.

That company hopes to hit the market by the end of the year.

I think the idea that this is slow, I reject the premise.

I think if you go and look at other states that have gone to medical or recreational programs, go look at New York, go look at new Jersey.

It took years to go from legislative legislation passing or freedom from licenses being awarded to stores being opened.

And, you know, I think that we are going to have stores open this year.

We're gonna have stores open this year while it's still warm out.

Some say that's too optimistic.

Michael Adair is a hemp farmer, though he does not have a medical marijuana business license.

Again, it's a plant.

It has it has to grow.

There's a grow season for it.

Like, even for hemp.

You know, most farmers are planting in May and June and then you have crop tober.

So you have months and months and months until they harvest in October.

Some people even push it into early November.

There might be something by the end of this year, but it's going to be very limited, right?

Like, there won't be a lot, but the mass market won't have medical cannabis probably till the middle or end of next year before there's actually like it's abundant.

In the meantime, an executive order from Governor Andy Beshear allows medical marijuana patients to use medicine purchased out of state as they wait for the product to show up in local stores.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Gene Leffler.