The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission may finally move forward with dispensary and integrated facility licensing after an appellate court lifted a year-long restraining order against the beleaguered agency.
Alabama’s legislature legalized medical cannabis in 2021. By 2023, the AMCC had licensed cultivators and producers. The agency then hit some legal speed bumps when three subsequent attempts to award processor and retail licenses were blocked by legal actions. On March 7, Alabama’s Court of Civil Appeals overturned a lower court’s temporary restraining order from January 2024 that had left the AMCC unable to move forward with any more attempts at licensing.
Alabama Always seeks an integrated facility license for a proposed cultivation and processing facility on the outskirts of Montgomery and five dispensaries in Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Gadsden and Mobile. After being denied a license, Alabama Always sued the state on June 22, 2023. The company challenged the legitimacy of the scoring used in all three of the AMCC’s attempts to issue medical cannabis licenses, resulting in the temporary restraining order.
The appellate court found that the Montgomery County Circuit Court, which originally issued the TRO in Alabama Always v. Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission, lacked jurisdiction because Alabama Always failed to exhaust all of its options with the AMCC before filing with the circuit court.
“We are hopeful that this decision will remove the obstacles that have prevented the Commission from completing the licensing process and doing the work the law charged it to do,” said John McMillan, AMCC executive director, told CRB Monitor News.
The AMCC said it has already issued licenses for cultivators, processors, secure transporters and a testing lab, according to a March 7 press release. Since the start of the TRO last year, the agency has been unable to issue licenses or conduct investigative review hearings for retail and integrated facilities.
“In this case, immediately after requesting a public-investigative hearing, Alabama Always obtained injunctive relief preventing the AMCC from proceeding with a public-investigative hearing, and the TRO continues to obstruct that hearing,” said the 27-page opinion. The opinion was filed per curiam, which means it was a unanimous and unsigned opinion.
The appellate court directed the lower circuit court to formally lift the restraining order. But McMillian said he’s uncertain when the circuit court will act on that.
Nevertheless, the ruling appears to free the AMCC to continue moving toward issuing retail and integrated medical cannabis licenses, and allowing the state to finally launch its medical market.
“It should be helpful. We were pleased with the decision. It was strongly in our favor,” said McMillan. “We’re preparing to move on with the investigative hearings that this TRO was blocking us from.”
The AMCC is also waiting to hear if the plaintiffs plan to continue appealing the case. “We’re just going to have to see what the other folks do,” said McMillan.
Agency planning to license more testing labs
The AMCC opened the application window for additional cannabis testing labs from Feb. 14 to March 14.
“The primary objective of the Commission has always been helping Alabama patients through access to the benefits of medical cannabis products,” said Commission Chairman Rex Vaughn in a released statement. “Delivering on that objective is possible only if we have licensed state testing laboratories to ensure those products are safe and satisfy the requirements of Alabama law.”
The commission first attempted to award medical cannabis licenses on June 12, 2023. Four days later, the commission suspended those awards and announced that they would be re-scored 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 2023, but those results also attracted legal action.
Licensing has been on hold since Jan. 3 when Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge James Anderson issued the TRO in the Alabama Always case.
By the time it came before the Court of Civil Appeals, Alabama Always’ case was consolidated with cases from other applicants that were also denied.
In the state Senate, SB 72 is still awaiting committee action. The bill would increase the number of available integrated facility licenses, while also eliminating an applicant’s ability to appeal license denials from the AMCC.
