Warren County government leaders will soon rule on zoning text amendments approved last week by the City-County Planning Commission that better define and limit where medical cannabis products will be sold.

The action by the planning commission limits retail sales of medical cannabis to properties zoned highway business and also prohibits such sales adjacent to agricultural or residential districts and requires that medical cannabis retailers be located at least one mile from each other.

The planning commission’s action came about as a result of a state law enacted last year that legalized medical cannabis but left decisions about locating retail outlets largely up to local governments.

The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2025, requires eligible Kentuckians to get a written certification from a licensed practitioner and apply for a registry ID card to get medical cannabis.

To be eligible, a patient must have one of the following qualifying medical conditions:

•cancer;

•chronic, severe, intractable, or debilitating pain;

•epilepsy or other intractable seizure disorder;

•multiple sclerosis, muscle spasms, or spasticity;

•chronic nausea or cyclical vomiting syndrome that is resistant to other treatments;

•post-traumatic stress disorder; or

•any other medical condition or disease the Kentucky Center for Cannabis determines is likely to be benefited by the use of medicinal cannabis according to scientific data.

Although the legalization doesn’t take effect until the next calendar year, licensing of retailers can begin on July 1 of this year.

That impending date meant that action by local governments was needed, said planning commission Executive Director Ben Peterson.

Peterson said a group of county and city of Bowling Green leaders met and ruled out the option of taking no action, which would then allow sales of medical cannabis in any location where retail sales are allowed, with the exception of the state law prohibiting such sales within 1,000 feet of a school or day care.

“That left us the option of regulating (retail outlets) through zoning,” Peterson said.

By restricting medical cannabis retail outlets to the highway business zone and incorporating the other requirements, Peterson said there should only be 15 to 20 possible retail locations in the county.

The planning commission had to move quickly to come up with the zoning amendment, Peterson said, because all county legislative bodies (county fiscal court plus the cities of Bowling Green, Woodburn, Plum Springs, Oakland and Smiths Grove) have to approve the changes by July 1.

“We wanted to give them enough time,” he said. “Each of the legislative bodies could still choose to do something different. They could prohibit it (medical cannabis sales).”

Having the zoning amendments in place could also help, Peterson said, if Kentucky goes the way of 24 other states and votes to allow recreational marijuana in the future.

“This puts the framework in place if recreational marijuana is ever approved,” he said.