Montgomery County Circuit Judge James Anderson continued to block the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission from issuing cannabis business licenses in an order released on Monday.
In a unanimous decision in March, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals said the temporary restraining order that’s stalled the implementation of the state’s medical cannabis law for 14 months should be vacated “because the circuit court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction.”
Alabama legalized cannabis for medical purposes in 2021, but the program has not gotten fully off the ground yet.
Despite the appeals court ruling, Anderson said in an order on Monday that he was permanently prohibiting the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission from taking any action in furtherance of the Dec. 12, 2023, awards and denials of medical cannabis licenses in the integrated facility category.
By law, the commission is allowed to award five integrated facility licenses, which will enable a business to cultivate, process, dispense, transport, and sell medical cannabis. This is the most competitive license category.
Anderson wrote in his order that an emergency rule passed by the commission in October 2023 was void.
“However efficacious medical cannabis is, or however desirable the availability of medical cannabis might be as an alternative to other treatments (as the Legislature has found), any need for medical cannabis is not a public health “emergency” justifying the Commission’s bypassing of the normal rulemaking process,” Anderson said in an order on Monday.
Warren Cobb, general counsel with Sustainable Alabama, a company awarded an integrated facility license last year, told 1819 News on Monday that they would appeal Anderson’s order.
“Judge Anderson’s opinion purports to invalidate a rule his Court essentially created through the mediation process in October of 2023. The emergency rule was created to allow the plaintiffs to have the presentations they sought and now decry as illegal. We relied upon this rule, as did every other party, without objection. It was only after the plaintiffs lost did they attempt to attack this rule,” Cobb said.
FILE_5035 by Caleb Taylor on Scribd
UPDATE: After publication, a spokesperson for the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission told 1819 News on Tuesday, “The circuit court entered injunctions that have completely stalled the Commission’s licensing process for the past 16 months. Now that the appellate court has thrown out those injunctions, the circuit court, in a ruling that could have been made at any point during that 16-month stall, has substituted its judgement for that of the Commission and declared invalid a patient-driven Commission rule that was adopted 18 months ago.”
“Make no mistake ---- powerful interests in this state have made clear that this fight will never be about what is best for Alabama patients who may benefit from medical cannabis,” the spokesperson said. “In reality, today, at least three licensed medical cannabis cultivators are growing cannabis in Alabama. The Commission, still focused on patient needs, will continue to work tirelessly to see that at least one dispensary license is issued as soon as possible.”
Will Somerville, an attorney for Alabama Always on Tuesday, called the order a “positive development.”
“This is a very positive development. Like the recent ruling by the Court of Civil Appeals, this decision makes clear the AMCC must follow the Administrative Procedure Act when awarding licenses. But these court rulings aren’t enough to completely fix the process. We still need to address the admitted bias of Commission members as well as the delays that will be caused by numerous applicants competing for a limited number of licenses. Legislators need to take action this session to fix this broken process so that Alabama patients with seizure disorders and other conditions can access the medical cannabis products they need as quickly as possible,” Somerville said.
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