“Certainly it will be a delay for us and we wouldn’t choose to do so if we could, but we are trying to comply with the judge’s wish.”
By Alander Rocha, Alabama Reflector
The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission Thursday officially voted to defer granting licenses for the growth, manufacturing and production of medicinal cannabis.
AMCC Chair Rex Vaughn stated that the new stay will allow for a third round to be awarded of licenses. This comes after a Montgomery Judge issued a temporary restraining order .
“We have put a stop on our current licensee list. “We’ll have to wait and see if the list remains unchanged,” he said. “But yes, that’s something we will have to do again at a later vote.”
Vaughn stated that during the meeting the administrative stay would allow the parties to “make an attempt to solve issues before resuming licensing.”
Applicants who have been granted a license during the current stay are not required to pay any licensing fees. A deadline will not apply to applicants who are denied a licence in order to request an investigation hearing.
Vaughn stated that the new administrative stay would remain in place indefinitely.
He said, “It will certainly be another delay, and we wouldn’t choose to do it if we could, but we are trying to comply with the judge’s wish.”
Antoine Mordican is the CEO of Native Black Cultivation. The company was denied a license during the first evaluation. He said that he hoped that the commission would investigate the applications and examine them more closely.
Mordican stated that his Alabama-based firm, which produces hemp in the state, and wants to switch to medical cannabis was flagged due to a “residency deficit.”
Mordican stated, “I am trying to determine how they are interpreting this because I can provide clarity on that.” “And it’s a simple, rectifiable problem amongst my team of owners.”
He claimed that his company was “100% Alabama-owned” and had been in the state for over 30 years.
The company grows cannabis to be turned into therapeutics. He hoped his company would be the first African American owned company to grow medicinal cannabis in Alabama.
Mordican hopes that the commission will at least consider granting licenses to cultivators, since most of the companies in the lawsuits have integrated facilities which can produce medical marijuana products from seed up to the store shelves. He said that allowing cultivators to start the process could not cause the process to be delayed as much.
He said that it could take at least four or eight months to get a harvest.
Mordican says cultivators shouldn’t have this yet. It will take them four months to harvest the plants if they grow them from seedlings. He said that it can take up to eight months to grow a plant.
He said, “Cultivators still have a lot to do before we can become operational. If they issue us licenses, it will give us time and leeway to get everything set up.”
At its meeting on August 10, the AMCC awarded licenses to produce and distribute medical cannabis, after suspending earlier awards due to concerns about the evaluation process.
Alabama Always , who filed a suit against the AMCC last month for the appointment of Steven Stokes as former chair, has filed a lawsuit alleging that the AMCC violated the open meeting law in its August 10th meeting. The company that applied for a license but didn’t receive one, claimed the commission members had privately nominated firms for public votes during an executive meeting.
The lawsuit claims that during the executive session commission members were told to seal their nominations inside an envelope, and at the meeting on August 10th the companies receiving the most nominations would be voted for by the public.
The Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge James Anderson has scheduled a second hearing for September 6 on the commission’s alleged Open Meetings Act violations .
A final hearing will be held within 60 days if the judge determines that the evidence is substantial that the commission has violated the law.
This article was originally published by The Alabama Reflector.
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Photo by Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.
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