LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky's medical cannabis program is facing more legal challenges.
A Louisville-based attorney, Greg Troutman, filed a lawsuit on behalf of businesses who didn't get drawn in the license lottery.
He alleged the General Assembly unlawfully gave the Office of Medical Cannabis the power to decide how applicants were chosen.
“It’s a mess," Troutman said. "It’s a mess and the rush to get things done has led to that mess happening.”
Kentucky's medical cannabis scene is not exactly in bloom. With nothing on the shelves, patients are still waiting for their products.
Troutman claimed the problems go back to the program's creation: how Kentucky decided to give out licenses.
Troutman said one issue is the lottery draw itself.
“All you had was a computer and a screen and a random number generator that populates with numbers. How do you, watching that, know how those numbers were drawn?" Troutman said. “There was supposed to be transparency in the process. That transparency is that individuals were supposed to be able to visualize and view the drawing.”
He claims the Office of Medical Cannabis may have exceeded what the state legislature permitted.
He said the General Assembly did not specify if the Office of Medical Cannabis could ask a third party, like the Kentucky Lottery Corporation, to do the drawing.
"They just left that all to the cabinet to decide," Troutman said.
A spokesperson for the Office of Medical Cannabis said: “With the General Assembly’s approval, the Office developed a lottery system that is completely open, transparent and viewable to the public. We are confident that any court will uphold the process.”
Troutman said the legislature should have been more involved, and they should have been the one to decide how the state was carved up into districts and how many licenses each district gets.
“Those are typically legislative matters. Agencies typically fill in the blanks. Deciding what you’re going to regulate and how you’re going to regulate it is not filling in the blanks," Troutman said. "That is the substance of the law."
He's citing constitutional separation of powers.
The lawsuit is just more pushback on how the medical cannabis program is being rolled out.
