On July 1, Gov. Andy Beshear lifted his 2022 executive order shielding medical cannabis patients from being prosecuted for going out of state to purchase products. Those consumers are now required to buy in Kentucky, and they're paying higher costs. Increased competition and more supply are expected to lead to lower prices eventually.
Kentuckians with chronic pain are finding it harder to afford medical cannabis.
On July 1, an executive order was lifted that offered conditional pardons for patients traveling out of state to purchase the drug. Now that medical cannabis is legal in the Commonwealth and there’s an adequate supply, Kentuckians must make their purchases in-state, and they're finding a large cost disparity.
Sixty-year-old Ricky Hunt of Hopkinsville was diagnosed with cancer of the spinal cord as a child.
"They stopped it from killing me, but I have all the pain of an end-of-life patient," Hunt told state lawmakers last week. "I've dealt with this my whole life. It's all I've known."
Until recently, Hunt had been going out of state to purchase medical cannabis. Bedridden from home, he recently testified by video conference to the Interim Joint Committee on Agriculture and described the sticker shock of buying medical marijuana in Kentucky.
“In Metropolis, Illinois, they have a one gram vape cartridge of THC on sale for $24 and I went to our place here to pick something up and it was $130," Hunt said.
Medical insurance doesn’t cover the cost of medical marijuana, leaving consumers to pay out of pocket.
“Five of our seven surrounding states had a medical cannabis program before we did. And so, the price, their markets are more mature," testified Sam Flynn, Deputy General Counsel in the Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis. "They produce more cannabis, and therefore the price is going to be significantly lower in those states versus a state where you’re just getting up and operational.”
Flynn said prices will come down as the state opens more cultivating and processing facilities.
The current average retail cost of medical cannabis in Kentucky ranges from $40 per unit of edibles to more than $100 for vapes.
Medical cannabis dispensaries have only been operating in Kentucky since late 2025 and just 17 are open statewide.
“I feel that the governor’s decision to roll back this (executive order), you’re leaning to guide them toward the streets and purchasing something illegal because of the costs," said Committee Co-Chair Rep. Myron Dossett, a Republican from Pembroke. "So, we do want to be very cautious about that."
At the end of June, Kentucky had 26,000 medical cannabis cardholders. According to Flynn, an estimated 400,000 Kentuckians are eligible for medical marijuana under the state's qualifying conditions.
"Without expanding access, the high price floor will continue," said Rachel Roberts, Executive Director of the Kentucky Cannabis Industry Alliance.
Roberts told the committee that legislative reform is needed to see more price compression, including telehealth. Currently, patients seeking a medical cannabis card are required to have a face-to-face meeting with a health care provider. Her group also wants physician discretion when prescribing medical marijuana, rather than having to abide by a list of qualifying conditions.
The Kentucky Cannabis Industry Alliance is also advocating to eliminate the notary requirement and ease advertising requirements.
"What we don't want to happen, and what a lot of Kentuckians were still doing before the governor's executive order expired, we don't want people driving up to Michigan where products are two and three dollars for a bag of gummies," Roberts said. “Because of how much volume is in the Michigan market, it’s not tested the way our Kentucky patients’ products are tested. It’s not grown by our growers here. It meets the standards that you as the lawmakers put in place. And that’s the kind of medicine I want our Kentucky patients using.”
