{"id":76350,"date":"2024-06-16T10:55:08","date_gmt":"2024-06-16T18:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/06\/16\/alabama-patients-and-advocates-urge-state-to-resolve-medical-marijuana-licensing-dispute\/"},"modified":"2024-06-16T12:45:23","modified_gmt":"2024-06-16T20:45:23","slug":"alabama-patients-and-advocates-urge-state-to-resolve-medical-marijuana-licensing-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/06\/16\/alabama-patients-and-advocates-urge-state-to-resolve-medical-marijuana-licensing-dispute\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama Patients And Advocates Urge State To Resolve Medical Marijuana Licensing Dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an artificial injunction against the democratic process working and that ought to infuriate every voter in Alabama.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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

Medical cannabis supporters advocated for making medical cannabis, which is stalled due to litigation, available in Alabama.<\/p>\n

The Patients Coalition for Medical Cannabis, a new organization advocating for possible patients, hosted speakers Wednesday in Montgomery to discuss potential benefits for patients, setbacks in Alabama and other states that have active medical cannabis programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me ask you this question: Who are these lawsuits serving? They\u2019re not serving the patients. I\u2019ve been suffering for three years,\u201d said Amanda Taylor, an advocate for medical cannabis and a former medical cannabis patient in Arizona. She said she has seven conditions, including multiple sclerosis, that could be treated with medical cannabis.<\/p>\n

Alabama Legislature approved the medical marijuana program in 2021, but litigation over licenses has ground the process to a halt.<\/p>\n

The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) began accepting applications in late 2022<\/a>. The AMCC initially issued licenses in June but voided them due to scoring inconsistencies<\/a>, later rescinding awards again in August<\/a> amid a lawsuit over Open Meetings Act violations. The AMCC issued new licensing rules in October<\/a>. The commission issued licenses a third time in December, but litigation halted the licensing process again in January<\/a> for dispensaries and integrated facilities.<\/p>\n

Integrated facilities\u2014multimillion-dollar operations that can grow, process and sell medical cannabis\u2014have been at the center of the ongoing litigation regarding licenses.<\/p>\n

Dr. Marshall Walker, a pain management physician in Mobile, said that he has several treatments for pain, but he needs medical cannabis to fill the gaps in pain treatment.<\/p>\n

He said that in his own pain practice, he\u2019s seen patients who know that certain treatments could cause harm, but they have no other option unless the lawsuits end.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll this requires is for our law to actually work for us, and we\u2019ve already used the democratic process. We have an artificial injunction against the democratic process working and that ought to infuriate every voter in Alabama,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n

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When the product is available, certified patients can use medical cannabis for 15 conditions, including cancer, chronic pain, depression and Parkinson\u2019s disease. Patients must apply for a card to obtain it from licensed dispensers.<\/p>\n

The law bans smoking or consuming cannabis in food. It will be available in tablets, capsules, gummies, oils, gels, creams, suppositories, transdermal patches, and inhalable forms. Only peach-flavored gummies are allowed.<\/p>\n

Will Somerville, an attorney representing Alabama Always, one of the firms that sued AMCC, said that they only asked the commission to follow the law, alleging the commission did not properly follow licensing procedure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy the commission has chosen to do things the way they have\u2014with total disregard for the statute\u2014is beyond me. We should do this the right way\u2014how the Legislature intended it to be done. We look forward to the courts compelling the AMCC to do the right thing, the right way,\u201d Somerville said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Dr. Corey Hebert, a professor of pediatrics at the Louisiana State University Health Science Center, and Dr. Kirk Kinard, a pain management doctor in the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure, also advocated to make medical cannabis available in Alabama at the press conference, sharing their experience in treating patients.<\/p>\n

Hebert said he treated a baby with infantile spasm, a type of seizure, whose condition only improved after being treated with medical cannabis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s inappropriate when your state is only holding this back because of the people that want to be involved in it. But it has nothing to do with the science. It has nothing to do with the law. It has nothing to do with that,\u201d Hebert said.<\/p>\n

Kinard said after the event that Alabama has had more than 30 states to learn from, and that \u201cAlabama is not really stepping out on the edge of the cliff with this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got thousands of patients reporting to me positives, very few negatives. I haven\u2019t gotten, in 20,000 patient certifications\u2014I\u2019ve gotten zero calls from an emergency physician reporting that I have one of your certified patients in the ER,\u201d Kinard said.<\/p>\n

Taylor said after the event that with pharmaceuticals, there are often side effects that she doesn\u2019t get from medical cannabis. She said that \u201cwhile they\u2019re helping one thing, they\u2019re pulling something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nobody in the hospital because of an overdose on cannabis, none of those things. I can use cannabis without side effects. I can function, and I can actually be more productive in life,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n

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

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New York Senators Call For Investigation Of State\u2019s Marijuana Social Equity Fund After Expos\u00e9 Of \u2018Predatory Deals\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis \/\/ Side Pocket Images.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Alabama Patients And Advocates Urge State To Resolve Medical Marijuana Licensing Dispute<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Alabama Patients And Advocates Urge State To Resolve Medical Marijuana Licensing Dispute<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe have an artificial injunction against the democratic process working and that ought to infuriate every voter in Alabama.\u201d By Alander Rocha, Alabama Reflector Medical cannabis supporters advocated for making medical cannabis, which is stalled due to litigation, available in Alabama. The Patients Coalition for Medical Cannabis, a new organizationContinue 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":[81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76350"}],"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=76350"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76351,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76350\/revisions\/76351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}