Gov. Andy Beshear traveled across the commonwealth last week to mark the openings of three new Tier 1 medical cannabis cultivators, including one in Nicholasville and another in Stanford, as the state’s young medical marijuana program continues to take root.

In Jessamine County on Monday, April 20, Beshear joined company leaders to cut the ribbon at BlüGrass, a Kentucky founded operation that had relocated to Colorado before returning home after the commonwealth legalized medical cannabis. The same day, the governor was in Lincoln County for a ceremony at Best State LLC in Stanford. The following day, Tuesday, April 21, Beshear traveled to Providence in Hopkins County to cut the ribbon at a third Tier 1 cultivator, Slaughter Branch LLC, according to reporting by Spectrum News 1.

In a post on social media, Beshear summed up the week’s openings.

“Three ribbon cuttings in one week as we continue to open more medical cannabis facilities for Kentuckians in need,” he wrote. “Just a year in, we’re delivering results that help our people and boost our economy. It’s a win win.”

Tier 1 is the smallest of Kentucky’s cultivator license categories. Tier 1 growers are capped at 2,500 square feet of canopy. Cultivators are licensed to grow medical cannabis in enclosed, secure facilities and to sell the raw plant material to licensed processors, producers and dispensaries within the state.

Writing about the Nicholasville opening, Beshear pointed to the company’s Kentucky roots.

“Medical cannabis is bringing relief to Kentuckians; it’s also bringing in new business and good jobs,” he wrote. “Today we cut the ribbon on Blügrass in Nicholasville, a Kentucky founded company that has returned to its home state thanks to the legalization of medical cannabis.”

BlüGrass operates under L+O Legacies and is led by Kyle Hacker, according to the Kentucky Cannabis Industry Association. The smaller-scale model is designed to give patients more variety on dispensary shelves and is described as “craft cannabis.”

Beshear marked the Stanford ceremony in a separate post.

“We made a promise to deliver safe medical cannabis to Kentuckians, and that’s a promise we’ve kept,” the governor wrote. “We cut the ribbon on two new cultivators, including Best State LLC in Stanford. We’ve made a lot of progress in just a year.”

The governor has consistently framed access to regulated cannabis as an alternative to opioids for patients with chronic pain and post traumatic stress disorder.

Beshear said roughly nine cultivators were operating in the commonwealth as of last week, and almost 21,000 Kentuckians hold medical cannabis cards.

Under Kentucky law, only registered cardholders may legally purchase medical cannabis. Qualifying conditions currently include cancer, chronic or severe pain, epilepsy and other intractable seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis and related muscle spasms, chronic nausea or cyclical vomiting syndrome, and post traumatic stress disorder, according to the state Office of Medical Cannabis. Beshear has said expanding that list to include conditions such as Crohn’s disease, which is recognized in some other states, is a priority going forward.