Court scraps Alabama medical cannabis licensing again

The yearslong odyssey to license medical cannabis businesses in Alabama will drag on longer after a state judge revoked already-awarded permits and ordered a lengthy process to be restarted again.

It seems unlikelier than ever that MMJ sales will start in the Deep South state in 2024, as previously promised, after Montgomery Circuit Court Judge James Anderson canceled coveted vertically integrated licenses issued in 2023.

Anderson’s ruling on Monday concluded that the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) ignored the “normal rulemaking process,” Mobile TV station WPMI reported.

That means a total restart for the MMJ licensing process, according to the Alabama Political Reporter.

The AMCC is considering next steps, including whether to file an appeal, Director John McMillan told Montgomery TV station WSFA.

Anderson canceled the licenses issued under a December 2023 emergency order as well as separate integrated and dispensary licenses that the AMCC awarded in 2023 but weren’t yet active.

It’s the latest setback for medical marijuana in Alabama, where a bill legalizing MMJ was signed into law in 2021.

The legal odyssey is disrupting cannabis operators’ business plans, according to Ray French, the CEO of Foley-based Specialty Medical Products and Oscity Labs.

“There’s flower being grown already that we could immediately turn around and make these medical products,” he told WPMI.