Alabama Medical Cannabis Licensing on Hold, Again

Alabama’s medical cannabis licensing process is on hold, again, after a judge on Thursday granted a temporary restraining order after several cannabis companies claimed the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) violated the state’s open meetings law, WSFA reports. The lawsuit, brought by Alabama Always LLC and six other firms, was filed last month and alleges that the AMCC improperly erased recordings of its meetings.

In the most recent hearing, the plaintiffs contend that the AMCC also met behind closed doors for four hours during its latest meeting. The state’s lawyer argued that it would have been impractical to discuss the issues otherwise.

John McMillan executive director of the AMCC told WSFA that the board “had a number of pass, fail issues, background checks, and issues” that were all part of the decision to hold the closed-door session.

“And those are the kinds of things you know, you, you hate to just lay it out there. But they keep insisting so they may get their wish. … We hate any delays because there are patients suffering every day that need these products.” — McMillan to WSFA

Will Somerville, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told WSFA that the delays are caused by the AMMA’s “refusal to follow the law at every turn.”

“They keep on doing things they shouldn’t do,” he said. “And they keep on being stopped from it.”

McMillian was unable to say how long until medical cannabis would be available to patients in light of the litigation. The licensing process was previously paused in June after the AMCC said it had found “potential inconsistencies in the tabulation of scoring data.” New licenses were awarded last week.