{"id":76701,"date":"2024-07-03T09:51:39","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T17:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/07\/03\/alabama-judge-further-delays-states-stalled-medical-marijuana-licensing-process\/"},"modified":"2024-07-03T19:45:58","modified_gmt":"2024-07-04T03:45:58","slug":"alabama-judge-further-delays-states-stalled-medical-marijuana-licensing-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/07\/03\/alabama-judge-further-delays-states-stalled-medical-marijuana-licensing-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama Judge Further Delays State\u2019s Stalled Medical Marijuana Licensing Process"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that if so-and-so who got a license isn\u2019t qualified to get a license, I should be able to point that out, go to a hearing with them and challenge them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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

An Alabama judge Tuesday said he would enter another temporary restraining order on the stalled licensing process for medical cannabis licenses.<\/p>\n

Montgomery County Circuit Judge James Anderson directed companies denied a license and the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) to provide a jointly proposed order that would allow investigative hearings on awarded licenses to continue but would prevent those licenses from being issued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really happy about telling somebody exactly what to do, but that\u2019s my intent to have that into place to make sure that everybody\u2019s rights [are protected], even the people who have gotten licenses,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n

The commission initially objected, citing its own stay preventing licenses from being issued, but it agreed to a modified restraining order allowing AMCC to proceed with investigative hearings and outlining the process to denied applicants.<\/p>\n

The new restraining order comes from a request from Alabama Always, one of the companies denied a license in all three rounds. They also challenged licenses that were awarded on top of their own denied licenses, arguing that they can\u2019t properly argue why they should have a license without arguing why the other company got one.<\/p>\n

Will Somerville, attorney for Alabama Always, said that because the commission has not given denied applicants a chance to challenge awarded licenses, the process should be subject to the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that if so-and-so who got a license isn\u2019t qualified to get a license, I should be able to point that out, go to a hearing with them and challenge them and make them put up or shut up about can they satisfy the requirements of the act,\u201d Somerville said.<\/p>\n

AMCC first awarded licenses to produce medical cannabis June 2023, but the commission voided them after they said there were\u00a0inconsistencies in scoring applications<\/a>. The commission attempted a second time to award licenses in August, but a lawsuit\u00a0alleging Open Meetings Act violations<\/a>\u00a0derailed the process. The commission attempted a third time in December to award licenses,\u00a0where further litigation has stalled the process<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Attempts in the Legislature to address the legal problems mostly failed this year. The only bill related to medical cannabis that was sent to Gov. Kay Ivey\u2019s (R) desk was HB 390<\/a>, sponsored by Danny Crawford (R-Athens), which shifts licensing powers for cultivators from the Department of Agriculture and Industries to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission.<\/p>\n

SB 276,<\/a> sponsored by Sen. David Sessions (R-Grand Bay) would have increased\u00a0the maximum number of licenses<\/a> in some categories and instructed the commission to confirm any licenses granted by the commission from June to December of last year by June 15. SB 306<\/a>, sponsored by Sen. Tim Melson (R-Florence), who also sponsored the 2021 medical cannabis legislation, would have restarted the licensing process<\/a>\u00a0and taken away some of the powers of the AMCC.<\/p>\n

The two bills\u2014aimed at starting the program<\/a>\u2014stalled in the Senate and never reached the floor for a vote before the end of the session.<\/p>\n

There was a short discussion about lifting a separate restraining order on dispensaries, which would allow doctors to recommend medical cannabis to patients, but the judge said they would take that up at a later date. Patrick Dungan, lawyer for Yellowhammer Medical Dispensaries, said he the stay should not be lifted as he separately asked the court to review the licensing process, which is currently in the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got something on appeal right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

\n

Biden Touts Work To Address \u2018Failed Approach To Marijuana\u2019 In Civil Rights Act Proclamation<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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

The post Alabama Judge Further Delays State\u2019s Stalled Medical Marijuana Licensing Process<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\u201cI think that if so-and-so who got a license isn\u2019t qualified to get a license, I should be able to point that out, go to a hearing with them and challenge them.\u201d By Alander Rocha, Alabama Reflector An Alabama judge Tuesday said he would enter another temporary restraining order onContinue 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\/76701"}],"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=76701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76702,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76701\/revisions\/76702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}