Alabama State Sen. David Sessions has introduced a new bill that’s designed to correct the legal problems that Alabama’s stalled medical cannabis market has endured since mid-2023.
SB276, which was filed on April 2 and was subsequently assigned to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, would increase the number of cannabis licenses that the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission is allowed to award.
Currently, the AMCC is authorized to issue no more than four processor licenses, four dispensary licenses and five integrated facility licenses, but the commission is also allowed to issue fewer than the cap. Under the new bill, those caps would increase to six processor licenses, seven dispensaries and 15 integrated facilities. The AMCC would also be required to issue all of the available licenses to eligible applicants.
“This bill would void the rescission of licenses and the denial of license applications for certain applicants that were previously acted on by the commission,” said the bill’s summary preamble. “This bill would require the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission to reissue licenses to certain applicants.”
The AMCC has made three attempts to award licenses, but each time they generated lawsuits from companies and prospective operators who missed out. With the increase in available licenses, this bill could result in some of those applicants getting their license after all, effectively making their legal claims moot.
Activist group calls bill ‘a very suspicious move’
The Alabama Cannabis Coalition, an activist group representing the state’s medical patients, announced April 3 that it would not be supporting the bill.
“We believe this appears to be a very suspicious move by the Alabama Legislature to end the lawsuits against the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission,” said ACC President H. Marty Schelper in a released statement. “For now, the Alabama Cannabis Coalition remains neutral on SB276 and not for any other reason than we do not believe this legislation was sponsored in good faith. We remain committed to our position that ‘free markets’ are the solution to this quagmire. Unfortunately, at this juncture, it may be years before the sick, suffering and dying citizens of Alabama have ‘legal’ access to ‘medical’ cannabis and that is the most difficult pill to swallow.”
The AMCC is currently a state of hiatus as it awaits the resolution of ongoing cases and did not respond to emailed requests for comment.
During the AMCC’s March 13 monthly meeting, the commission considered, but ultimately tabled, a motion to formerly stay the issuance of cannabis licenses. The AMCC will get another chance to weigh in formal stays during its April 11 meeting.
Licensing has been on hold since a Jan. 3 temporary restraining order issued by Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge James Anderson in the case of Alabama Always LLC Et Al v. State of Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission.
The AMCC set a 28-day time limit between when license winners are announced and when they actually receive the license in order to allow for more due diligence to ensure that applicants qualify and are in compliance, actions that have stopped amid the latest court order. In the event, that a court order frees up AMCC to issue licenses, the commission could be left with just a few days to conduct site inspections.
A formal stay would free up more time for AMCC before they are statutorily required to issue licenses.
The commission first attempted medical cannabis licenses on June 12, 2023. The licenses included five for vertically integrated facilities, four for cultivation, four processing, four dispensing, three transporting and a single testing lab license.
Four days later, the commission suspended those awards and announced that they would be rescored to ensure consistency between applicants.
About two months later, the commission announced its second attempt at awarding licenses. Verano Alabama, a subsidiary of Verano Holdings (VRNOF), sued the state after they were included in the first round but excluded in the second.
The commission made a third attempt at issuing licenses in December, but those results also attracted legal action.
Most of the AMCC’s legal challenges have been consolidated into a single case, and on March 11, the state filed a motion to dismiss. The companies that are suing had until April 1 to file their responses, and the state must answer by April 15. Then, both parties will have to wait for a judge’s ruling before the AMCC can make any headway on licensing.
