HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — It has been nearly four years since Governor Kay Ivey signed a measure legalizing medical cannabis in Alabama, but medical cannabis is still not available in Alabama.
The cannabis business license selection process, overseen by the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission, was marked by scoring errors and revotes, and when the final awards were announced, lawsuits followed.
This week, a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge issued an order Monday that freezes awards of integrated facility licenses, which cover every step of the medical cannabis process. The court’s ruling found the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission’s use of an “emergency rule” to issue licenses was invalid and its actions other than declaring an emergency were not consistent with a declared emergency.
The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission was sharply critical of the court’s order.
“The circuit court entered injunctions that have completely stalled the Commission’s licensing process for the past 16 months,” the AMCC said. “Now that the appellate court has thrown out those injunctions, the circuit court, in a ruling that could have been made at any point during that 16-month stall, has substituted its judgment for that of the Commission and declared invalid a patient-driven Commission rule that was adopted 18 months ago.”
News 19 spoke to parties on both sides of the ongoing debate, and despite the continued court battles, they expressed optimism there is now a path in place to get final approval for medical cannabis license approvals.
Joey Robertson, the president and CEO of Wagon Trail MedServe in Cullman, said he’s concerned the delays will continue to hurt Alabama patients. Robertson’s company was awarded an integrated facility license, which covers everything from cultivation to dispensing. He is frustrated by the Montgomery County court’s ruling.
“The biggest loser in this right now are the patients in Alabama,” he said. “They have been looking for relief, they’ve been sick for years. They’ve been looking for this relief, they’ve fought for this relief for years, and here we are tied up in court, unfortunately. This is not a case of who’s qualified and who’s not qualified at this point. The commission has picked good candidates to run this program for the state of Alabama. The problem is the people who were told ‘no’ will not accept it.”
Will Somerville, an attorney for Alabama Always, a company challenging the commission’s integrated facility licensing awards process, said the delays are due to the actions of Alabama regulators, not the lawsuits.
“The reason medical marijuana is not available in Alabama is the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission did not follow the law, the Administrative Procedure Act, refused to explain why it made any licensing decisions so far, which is an absolute denial of due process.”
Somerville said one day soon, the commission will have to hold a contested case process, during which license award winners and those seeking a license will argue their company’s merits and challenge their competitors.
“You’ve got to demonstrate you can commence cultivation within 60 days, you’ve got a $2 million bond, you’re adequately capitalized so that you can survive for two years without having any income,” he said. “You would have an administrative law judge appointed, to hear all the applications, hear all the applicants on how they can satisfy the significant, substantive requirements in the Compassion Act.” Robertson said he’s optimistic about getting medical cannabis to patients soon
“We’re going to go to the appellate court, this is going to be overturned shortly, the appellate court has moved quicker on a lot of these issues than they have on some others,” he said. “I think they’ve made their case time and time again, that the process is not complete. So I would say my optimism is on level 10, that we will be able to get patients’ medicine this year.”
The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission said it has plans to move forward.
“In reality, today, at least three licensed medical cannabis cultivators are growing cannabis in Alabama. The Commission, still focused on patient needs, will continue to work tirelessly to see that at least one dispensary license is issued as soon as possible.”
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