{"id":67953,"date":"2023-08-22T09:14:44","date_gmt":"2023-08-22T17:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2023\/08\/22\/verano-sues-alabama-medical-marijuana-regulators-over-decision-not-to-award-license-in-second-round\/"},"modified":"2023-08-23T19:46:48","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T03:46:48","slug":"verano-sues-alabama-medical-marijuana-regulators-over-decision-not-to-award-license-in-second-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2023\/08\/22\/verano-sues-alabama-medical-marijuana-regulators-over-decision-not-to-award-license-in-second-round\/","title":{"rendered":"Verano Sues Alabama Medical Marijuana Regulators Over Decision Not To Award License In Second Round"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cIts decision to \u2018void\u2019 previously awarded licenses without following the Legislature\u2019s\u2014and its own\u2014clearly established rules and regulations, exceeds and violates the statutory authority it has been granted\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Alander Rocha, Alabama Reflector<\/strong><\/p>\n

A medical cannabis company sued the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) on Monday, alleging the AMCC cannot revoke licenses and that its exercise of power \u201cboth exceeds and conflicts with the authority provided to it by the Alabama Legislature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verano Holdings, a Chicago-based company with an Alabama chapter, received an integrated facility in the first round of awards in June. It did not get a license in a second round earlier this month, after the commission put the awards on hold over questions on how the applications were initially scored.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of the commission\u2019s intent when it decided to issue the stay and subsequently \u2018re-award\u2019 the licenses, its decision to \u2018void\u2019 previously awarded licenses without following the Legislature\u2019s\u2014and its own\u2014clearly established rules and regulations, exceeds and violates the statutory authority it has been granted, violates its own rule, and is clearly erroneous. As such, Verano Alabama\u2019s awarded license remains valid,\u201d the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n

It stated that while the commission\u2019s rules and the Administrative Procedure Act establish a method for challenging the AMCC\u2019s decision to deny and award licenses, it does not give the ability for the AMCC to \u201cvoid\u201d previously awarded licenses on its own motion.<\/p>\n

Brittany Peters, spokesperson for the AMCC, did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n

The University of South Alabama (USA) brought in evaluators who reviewed the initial license applications<\/a>. Verano had the highest scores by USA and was awarded a license on June 12. But the AMCC put a pause on the process following several \u201cinconsistencies\u201d in scoring the applications, the commission re-awarded the licenses on August 10 to every company who got one in June, except Verano.<\/p>\n

The awards on August 10 ended a two-month limbo for licenses amid questions about the transparency of scoring applications<\/a>. Less than a week after announcing the licenses, the commission imposed a stay on awarding licenses<\/a>, citing \u201cscoring inconsistencies\u201d that would have led to \u201ccatastrophic\u201d results if the licenses were issued.<\/p>\n

A message was left with Verano\u2019s legal counsel Monday.<\/p>\n

Alabama Always, a company that did not win a license in either round, has filed two lawsuits against the commission. In the first, the company alleged that the commission violated a provision over the appointment of former chair Steven Stokes<\/a>, a USA trustee. Stokes stepped down earlier this month saying he did not want to slow down the process.<\/p>\n

A second lawsuit alleges that commission members were instructed to seal their nominations in an envelope during the executive session, and the companies with the most nominations received a public vote in the August 10 meeting, in violation of the state\u2019s Open Meetings Act.<\/p>\n

Montgomery County Circuit Judge James Anderson put a hold on Alabama\u2019s medical cannabis program last week<\/a> over the suit. The stay followed a heated hearing where an attorney for the AMCC suggested the commission would air applicants\u2019 \u201cdirty laundry.\u201d The hearing for Alabama Always\u2019 lawsuit is set for August 28.<\/p>\n

Will Somerville, attorney for Alabama Always, said after the hearing last week that the process wouldn\u2019t have been delayed if the commission \u201cwere doing things the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe delay has been caused by their refusal to follow the law every time. They keep on doing things they shouldn\u2019t do. And they keep on being stuck,\u201d Somerville said.<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Alabama Reflector.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

GOP Congressman Threatens Indian Tribe With Loss Of Federal Funding Over Marijuana Legalization<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Photo elements courtesy of rawpixel<\/a> and Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The post Verano Sues Alabama Medical Marijuana Regulators Over Decision Not To Award License In Second Round<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Verano Sues Alabama Medical Marijuana Regulators Over Decision Not To Award License In Second Round<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIts decision to \u2018void\u2019 previously awarded licenses without following the Legislature\u2019s\u2014and its own\u2014clearly established rules and regulations, exceeds and violates the statutory authority it has been granted\u201d By Alander Rocha, Alabama Reflector A medical cannabis company sued the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) on Monday, alleging the AMCC cannot revokeContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67953"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67954,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67953\/revisions\/67954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}