“More likely than not, there will be litigation, just by looking at other states and how they have handled it.”
By Ralph Chapoco of the Alabama Reflector
There is a lot of suspicion and criticism about the selection process for the medical cannabis industry.
Out of the more than 90 companies that applied for licenses, the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission awarded 16 licenses to produce and distribute medical cannabis.
John McMillan is the director of the Commission. He said: “To the recipients let me say we look forward working with you as a partner in which you all know what lies ahead.”
Alabama’s state legislature approved a medical marijuana program in 2021. However, the legislation authorizing the program didn’t allow for licenses to be granted until September 1, 2020. AMCC started accepting applications in late 2018.
Patients certified by participating doctors for the use of medical cannabis for 15 conditions including cancer, chronic back pain, depression, and Parkinson’s will need to apply for a medical cannabis card from licensed distributors when it becomes available.
The law prohibits the consumption of medical cannabis in food or as a smoked product. The products will come in the form of tablets, capsules or gelatins. They can also be found as oils, creams or gels. Cannabis gummies can only be peach-flavored.
The commission may award up to twelve licenses, including four for processing cannabis and four for dispensing the product.
The commissioners can also grant up to five licenses to integrated facilities that cultivate, process, and distribute medical marijuana. Each integrated facility will have five dispensaries, which will be responsible for the cultivation of cannabis and its sale in dispensaries.
38 entities applied for licenses to operate integrated facilities. Twelve more applicants competed for 12 cultivator licences. Twelve more applicants applied for the remaining four processor licenses. Meanwhile, 18 others applied for the remaining four dispensary licences.
Unknown numbers of testing and transport licenses are available. The commission received 11 applications for transport licenses and three for testing licenses.
The Commission awarded integrated facility licences to:
- Flowerwood Medical Cannabis, LLC, is based in Loxley, Baldwin County.
- Southeast Cannabis Company, LLC , based in Theodore, Mobile County
- Sustainable Alabama, LLC, located in Salem, Lee County.
- TheraTrue, LLC with a Montgomery postal address, but organizers based in Georgia.
- Verano Alabama LLC has a Montgomery address, but ‘s company, is located in Chicago.
The commission granted dispensary licences – facilities that distribute medical marijuana to patients – to:
- CCS of Alabama, LLC, with as its address in business records, is located at the Birmingham law office of Maynard, Cooper and Gale.
- RJK Holdings AL, LLC, is listed on business records in an office near the State House of Montgomery.
- Statewide Property Holdings AL is listed in the office building with RJK Holdings.
- Yellowhammer Medical Dispensaries, LLC, is located in Birmingham.
The following companies are eligible to receive a cannabis cultivation license:
- Blackberry Farms, LLC, is located in Dothan .
- Gulf Shore Remedies, LLC, , located in Fairhope, in Baldwin County.
- The Pure by Sirmon Farms, LLC, is located in Daphne, Baldwin County.
- Twisted Herb Cultivation, LLC, is located in Greenville.
The following organizations are licensed to process medical cannabis:
- 1819 Labs LLC is located in Dothan .
- Enchanted Green, LLC, , located in Dothan.
- Jasper Development Group Inc. is located in Jasper, Walker County.
- Organic Harvest Lab LLC is located in Bessemer .
The commission has awarded licenses for transport to Alabama Secure Transport, LLC, based in Montgomery, International Communications, LLC, based in Birmingham, and Tyler Van Lines, LLC, headquartered in Troy.
Certus Laboratories, located in Grand Bay, Mobile, was the sole company selected to receive a license for testing.
The website of the Commission has many applications that have been partially or completely redacted.
Alabama, like Georgia has limited the number licenses available for its medical marijuana industry. This could lead to litigation.
The announcement of the commission in a highly competitive industry for the right to join the industry left many disappointed.
“I thought the Commission did their best with the tools they were given,” said Antoine Mordican. He is the CEO of Native Black Cultivation. This company was one of those denied a cultivation license. “We need to find out what will come out in the future about why we weren’t selected or why the decision was made.”
Mordican plans to apply for a new license if future ones become available.
Liberty Duke, a board member of Hornet Medicinals, LLC, a firm that was denied a license for integrated manufacturing, said: “I’m sure the Commission made a difficult decision.” “I’m just eager to see the grade metrics.”
Some of the companies that were granted integrated licenses had multi-state entities, or years of industry experience. TheraTrue is present in Georgia and Virginia. Verano had dispensaries throughout the Northeast and Chicago.
In a press release, Verano’s founder and CEO, George Archos said, “We have always focused on strengthening our position within the South. With the addition of Alabama, we now have a great opportunity to expand our presence in this important medical market, as state-level cannabis programs and acceptance continue to spread throughout the Southeast region.”
The Alabama medical cannabis law requires that applicants be owned by persons or companies who have lived in Alabama for at least 15 years. The law did not prohibit out-of-state companies from taking a minority stake in these companies.
Justin Aday is the general counsel of the Commission. He explains the selection process, including who will evaluate the applications and how to make it as fair as possible.
Aday stated that some parts of the evaluation process were blinded. Aday said that some portions of the evaluation process were not completely blinded. This means the board had access to certain information about the company being evaluated because of its context. Aday stated that “the evaluators conducted the evaluation objectively” despite this.
Many of the criteria used to make the final decision and their ranking were left in the dark. Few people are willing to explain how each factor was considered.
Mike Ball, R, Madison, former state representative who has campaigned for medical cannabis access over the years, said that they did their best to be objective. “One thing that I concentrated on was making the makeup of board members as diverse as possible.”
Now the question is whether or not those denied a license accept the decision of this commission, or file a lawsuit.
Zach Huey said that there would be more lawsuits if we looked at other states and how they handled it.
It will take some time to develop the industry and begin to sell medical marijuana to those who are eligible. This could be at the end of this year.
The story was originally published by Alabama Reflector.
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The first licenses for medical marijuana businesses in Alabama were awarded by the State Commission .
