HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission is facing more legal challenges stemming from the failure to establish a program for medical marijuana — nearly four years after it was legalized here.
A new lawsuit was filed in Montgomery on Friday by five families on behalf of their children.
The lawsuit says each of those children has a condition that is treatable with medical cannabis. But the lawsuit argues the board overseeing medical cannabis has not taken key, and legally required, steps toward making that treatment a reality.
The lawsuit is different than the ongoing court battles over medical marijuana business licenses that have been waged for nearly two years.
Medical marijuana was legalized in Alabama in 2021, but the process has been stalled over court challenges to how the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission handled the licensing award process. The new lawsuit targets what it says is another failure by the commission — the lack of a patient and caregiver database, showing who is eligible to obtain and recommend medical marijuana.
The lawsuit points out that the database was required by law to be established by September 1, 2022.
The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission website says the database is under development and is not registering caregivers or patients at this time. It also says once business licenses are issued, caregivers can begin the certification process to recommend cannabis for patients.
News 19 reached out to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission on Monday, but the commission’s representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
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