The Alabama Cannabis Industry Association (ACIA) announced they are holding the Inaugural Alabama Medical Cannabis Conference on Friday, July 14, and Saturday, July 15.
The conference will be at the Birmingham Sheraton Hotel at 2101 Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard North.
“On June 12, 2023, the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission made the historic announcement of the State of Alabama’s first legal medical cannabis license awards,” Alabama Cannabis Industry Association President Chey Garrigan said. “In the days following this landmark announcement, issues arose that raised questions about the calculations of the scores. As a result, the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission has stayed the formal issuing of the licensing, as has a trial court.”
“Since early 2019, Alabama Cannabis Industry Association has been the only voice of Alabama’s Cannabis Industry,” said Garrigan. “From the very beginning, our focus has been on providing Alabamians with a demonstrable medical need, the same relief that most of the nation already have legal access to. Our focus has never wavered.”
Garrigan said the conference will include roundtable discussions, panel topics, and networking opportunities. The conference includes learning opportunities from leaders and innovators in cannabis cultivation, retail, and extraction. The conference will provide information about the technical, operational, and strategical tools that are vital to thrive in this ever-challenging, ever-changing industry.
“Our membership-based association is governed by a member Board of Directors and member Advisory Board with backgrounds in medical and adult-use cannabis licensed facility operations, as well as healthcare, law, science, law enforcement, security, commercial real estate, finance, government, and public affairs,” Garrigan said. “Our inaugural conference will feature nationally recognized experts in the cannabis space that has been featured on TED talk and widely publicized Cannabis periodicals.
For more information about the conference, go to Alabamacannaconference.com.
The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) is the agency that the state Legislature created and tasked with regulating medical cannabis in Alabama. The AMCC recently announced that it had awarded 21 business licenses to grow, process, transport, and/or analyze medical cannabis in Alabama. Four days later, the Commission put a hold on the issuing of the licenses due to some issues with the scoring of the applications.
The Commission is holding an independent review of the scoring; meanwhile, a court has put a stay on awarding any licenses pending a hearing. This puts the whole industry on hold pending the review and the outcome of the pending litigation.
It will be sometime in 2024 before legal Alabama-grown medical cannabis is available in Alabama.
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