On Thursday, a Montgomery Circuit Court heard arguments from plaintiffs that the court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) on the state’s issuing of medical marijuana licenses be extended. Montgomery Circuit Judge James Anderson gave permission to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) to meet on Thursday and vote to implement their own stay on the issuing of cannabis licenses. Anderson extended his temporary restraining order to a hearing on the afternoon of September 6.
The AMCC initially issued the licenses in June but then halted the license awards after an issue was detected in the tabulation of the awards. One of the aggrieved parties, Alabama Always, sued to block the issuing of the awards, claiming that the Commission did not follow the Alabama Open Meetings Law. The licenses were awarded for a second time in August. Alabama Always’ application for an integrated facility license was again rejected by the Commission. Verona was awarded a license in June, but not in August. They have since filed suit calling into question the process by which the awards were made in August.
Attorney Mark Wilkerson, who represents the AMCC, told Judge Anderson that the commission intends to go back to “square one” and issue the licenses again.
An attorney who represents one of the groups awarded a processor license asked that since the suit has been brought by parties seeking integrated facility licenses, and that there has been no complaint from growers or processors, that the growers, processors, transporters, and dispensary licenses be allowed to proceed.
An attorney who represents a hemp processor in the Phenix City area whose application was denied then stood up and said that she had filed Sunday to enter this case and was seeking relief from the court.
Judge Anderson took no action to release the processor, grower, transporter, or dispensary licenses from the TRO.
An attorney for the plaintiffs expressed his disappointment with the process, stating, “In the last two or three days, we thought we had something in place.”
That proposed agreement became unraveled at a conference with the judge held earlier on Monday at 11:30.
One attorney said, “The director is not here. The deputy director does not appear to be here. We don’t know where we are getting this information from.”
“I don’t want to negotiate in public,” the plaintiffs’ attorney said.
“…..but that is what we are doing,” Judge Anderson quipped. “I would like for the commission to put a stay in play so the court does not have to order it.”
Chey Garrigan is the Executive Director and founder of the Alabama Cannabis Industry Association.
Garrigan held a press conference at the conclusion of the court proceeding.
“We got everybody in the state fired up, asking, ‘When am I going to get my card?’” Garrigan said. “Let the growers go ahead and grow, let the processors go ahead and process, and let the dispensers go ahead and dispense.”
“Every day, I get letters and emails from Alabamians who are seeking relief from medical cannabis,” Garrigan said. “We should have had this up and off the ground in September 2021. The people who were not in the courtroom today are not being represented. How many times are we going to have to go through these applications?”
At the close of the hearing, Judge Anderson said, “I heard that Mississippi passed this six months after Alabama did. I heard that they were issuing prescriptions in January, so for once, we can’t say thank God for Mississippi.”
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