Kentucky's medical cannabis rollout begins in January of 2025, but not every Kentucky town or county will allow cultivators or dispensaries to set up shop, creating a patchwork of rules that will determine whether Kentuckians and where Kentuckians can get medical cannabis.

Our June Lefler has more on how this is all playing out in northern Kentucky.

Medical cannabis is about to roll out in the Commonwealth, but some Kentuckians are already using it.

Like Gabrielle Dion of Florence.

This is cannabis flower and this is called watermelon cake, this strain.

And it really does smell like watermelon.

And they use it every day.

I use it mindfully in a way that allows me to be present and focused during the day.

I use things like edibles that have a slower onset.

Then at night I hit a little different products in order to help me get to sleep.

Dion bought these products legally in Ohio with her Ohio medical card.

She and her partner, a veteran diagnosed with PTSD who also uses medical cannabis, go back and forth from both states.

In 2022, Governor Andy Beshear issued executive orders that said The medical marijuana you get elsewhere you can use legally in Kentucky, too.

Here is our reality that you can purchase cannabis to treat a medical condition in Illinois, and you can use that medical cannabis in West Virginia.

But while you're traveling through Kentucky.

Your criminal Dionne credits medical cannabis for helping her kick an addiction to pain pills.

I have degenerative this disease and I had gone through two painful surgeries, and I have been able to utilize it as a daily medicine to replace not only opioids but also a benzo that I was on.

I had been on a nerve medicine called Lyrica.

All of those are not no longer necessary for me now that I've been using cannabis.

Diane advocates for medical cannabis as a patient and writer.

She publishes Medicate Kentucky.

A website to help would be medical marijuana patients navigate the Kentucky system.

How easy it will be for Kentuckians to get medical cannabis close to home is up in the air.

Diane lives in Boone County, one of three northern Kentucky counties that decided they don't want dispensaries or other cannabis businesses nearby.

And we didn't want companies applying to the state until we knew exactly what our local regs were going to be.

As far as things like distance from a school or distance from a church or even distance from one dispensary to another.

This isn't something that's cast in stone that would be that difficult to change.

But we feel like it's the responsible thing to do for now.

But cities can override these county bans locally.

Cities like Covington and Newport will welcome cannabis businesses, while cities like Florence and Ludlow will put the question to the voters.

One thing that you hear from time to time from the voters is they don't feel like they have enough of a say so to be able to take any issue to them and let them be heard, especially on something where I don't feel like council felt super strong one way or the other.

He's leaving it up to the community to decide, but he knows how he'll be voting.

So in too many small towns like Kentucky, ours included, towns have been losing their pharmacies, even if they're only going a few miles to Fort Rhayader, Fort Mitchell, to the pharmacy up there.

It's a little bit of a struggle to get there and get their medical care.

So to me that that's the biggest pro and that's the biggest reason to do this.

Availability will also depend on where the market meets state regulations.

More than 4000 dispensaries are vying for just 48 state allocated spots to be chosen by lottery this year.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm June Lefler.

Those 48 dispensaries will be spread out across the state, with at least four in each of the regions you see here.