The 3rd Annual Kentucky Cannabis Conference returns to Louisville, March 13-14, 2026 at the Kentucky International Convention Center. Join professionals, patients, and policymakers for three days of education, networking, and celebration.

The federal government might be ready to reopen its doors but the deal to do so has one Kentucky hemp business owner on edge.

“Mitch McConnell just destroyed our business,” Jim Higdon, co-founder and chief communications officer of Cornbread Hemp, told the Herald-Leader. “... The government just destroyed our business, and that shouldn’t happen.”

Younger and older adults who reside in close proximity to licensed cannabis retailers are less likely to engage in binge drinking, according to data published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Oregon State University researchers assessed the relationship between local retail cannabis access and adults’ use of marijuana and alcohol over eight years.

Kentucky will soon have operating medical marijuana dispensaries, but some lawmakers are raising concerns about certain products looking too much like candy rather than medicine.

Medical marijuana has reached another milestone in Kentucky, further pushing forward the process of cultivating cannabis in the state. Officials said this opens up a future for Kentuckians where health care is more available to those suffering, and communities can be safer.

Governor Andy Beshear said while licensed operators are already growing safe medical cannabis in the state, Kentucky is about to grow a whole lot more.

Here at Kentucky NORML we are happy to see the steps taken to ensure that their patients data is secure. We take patient privacy very seriously. While we are relieved to hear that no Kentucky residents appear to have been affected, this situation is a reminder of why transparency, accountability, and stronger protections are essential in the medical cannabis space.

“It takes a while to get an industry from the ground up,” Bratcher explained. “A lot of places have had to break ground and build from the ground up rather than retrofit buildings. So, it’s been expected that it would take kind of this long to get things going.”