MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The 2024 legislative session has ended leaving many issues on the table including the fight for medical cannabis. "The whole world is looking at Alabama right now", Chey Garrigan, Founding Director of Alabama Cannabis Industry Association shares. "With the way the session of the 2024 legislative session ended where we had absolutely no attention that was paid to medical cannabis. There were two bills that were out there. They could have done something."
Garrigan was one of a few speaking with legislatures during this session and talks seemed to be going well at first. "I was just there raising awareness and letting them know what was going on and what the potentially could happen if we don't settle this and we don't get this taken care of right now in this session and they were very receptive of this," Garrigan explains. "They actually were very agreeable, and they wanted to see exactly what they had intended on doing back in 2021, which was provide medical cannabis to the residents here in the state of Alabama." Then things took a turn. "All of a sudden their minds change. Some of these senators felt like it was very unfair the way that the licensing process was to all of a sudden now we just need to let the courts work it out."
Which wouldn't provide the needed resolution. "Moving forward with the litigation that is continuing to go on, there's no relief in sight. There's no relief in sight that this judge can offer," Garrigan shares. "What he can do is just continue to delay the time and that's it. He can't hand out any more licenses. He can't take away any license. He can delay it. He can stop the process, which is what he has done. and currently, that's not helping anybody in the state of Alabama."
She is hoping that a special session will happen. "So, I feel like right now what we need to do is we need to hand everybody a license, especially the vertical license, or at least give about 30 licenses out and would be around $2 million to support the cannabis commission and go ahead and take care of that immediately, get the governor to call a special session and or something like that," Garrigan explains. "I don't believe this can wait until next session. we've got too many guys that are ready to operate at this point and if we continue to wait, we have competition, heavy competition."
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With the DEA announcing the plans of potentially reclassifying of marijuana to a less dangerous drug, a lot of question are to be answered and as it pertains to the fight for licensing here in Alabama, the answer depends on what you're looking at.
To start, the goal of getting licensing here in the state was to begin the process of getting programs off the ground, but with decision on reclassifying looming, quick action is needed. "If the legislature does not act, then nobody in the state of Alabamia is going to have an opportunity to apply for a dispensary license to be able to operate," Chey Garrigan, Founding Director of Alabama Cannabis Industry Association shares. "I say it because, you know, this is going to be a time for the MSOs to move in and, you know, they would be dominating the market and our guys would never even have a chance to sell products, much less have an opportunity to make any kind of money."
MSOs are cannabis companies that have multi-state operations. Garrigan shares an interesting point. "One of the interesting things I wanted to point out is that when they did drop it into schedule three, the other day, if anybody that had invested in any type of cannabis, any type of cannabis stock and I can say this, from experience, they noticed quite an increase. well, that increase came from the MSOs, which would be what would eventually wind up taking over here in the state. I mean, it's like this if you have a choice of going to Walmart or to a mom-and-pop store, you're more than likely going to go to Walmart. So, and it puts all of these other guys out of business."
She also shares the reclassification might not be a bad thing. "It could actually mean a really good thing for us because, see where it takes this is it takes it from it takes it from interstate to intrastate. So that means we're no longer going to be just inside Alabama. That means that, you know, we'll be able to get products from all over."
That too would come with a process. "Now, there has to be some type of legal framework that the DEA and the federal government will have to come up with but, you know, there's a lot of regulations that will be lifted," Garrigan shares. "You know, we'll be able to research the product more but the main thing is with the state here is that I believe they need to take this very seriously and allow everyone to have a license, allow everyone to get out there and start operating and give our residents a chance to provide medical cannabis to the residents of the state of Alabama, because that was the intent of the legislature and it can't be ignored at this point.
Garrigan goes on to stress the importance of action on the legislative side. "So that's why I really would like to press for the legislature to take this seriously and to realize that our residents here and these guys that have been fighting so hard in the court, you know, and getting they're getting their property and their facilities ready to be able to serve as patients, that we need a legislative fix, and we need it immediately."
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Those who have been working to get medical cannabis here in Alabama feel a little bit frustrated after the latest round of legal action in the process to have medical marijuana here in the state was approved. "There definitely is litigation and a lot of it that's going on in the courtroom right now and one of the main things that's happening is that we've got a restraining order that's placed on the dispensary, the individual dispensary license," Chey Garrigan, Founding Director of Alabama Cannabis Industry Association shares. "The vertically integrated license, which was the license that you can say that Alabama did get right. So those are also being restrained right now, meaning that the judge is not issued the license. they may have been awarded, but they have not been issued yet."
Also, a bill that gives the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission more rights to regulate medical marijuana passed in the house and is headed to the senate.
HB390 will give the commission "primary responsibility" when regulating and licensing the drug. additionally, AMCC works with the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries to award distribution licenses.
Garrigan explains how all this has been affecting the process. "There's been a lot of different changes so, it's just you know, we've had about three different licensing choices throughout this period through almost about a nine-month period and so I would say that the guys that have applied have gotten a little bit, you know, probably a little bit of PTSD from it."
Garrigan also explains the ultimate goal. "At this point, we really just want to do whatever we can do to get this product out to the patients," Garrigan shares. "Because this was something that started in 2021 and we're here in 2024 right now, and we do not have the first product on the shelf, nor at this point, the way things are, we don't have a timeline as to when we know of, it's going to be, actually, if they're going to be able to do this any time soon. We don't have any type of indication that that would happen soon without any type of legislative fix like we have right now."
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A judge has temporarily blocked Alabama from issuing licenses to medical marijuana facilities amid an ongoing legal battle over how the state selected the winning companies.
Montgomery Circuit Judge James Anderson issued a temporary restraining order late Wednesday to stop the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission from issuing licenses for “integrated” facilities that grow, transport and sell medical marijuana. The coveted licenses, which the commission planned to issue this month, will be on hold while he hears a challenge to the selection process.
Companies that were not selected to receive the licenses have challenged the selection process used by the commission.
Anderson said he is sympathetic to concerns about delaying the availability of medical marijuana but said a pause on the licenses is merited.
The restraining order is the latest development in a legal battle that has plagued the start of Alabama’s medical marijuana program. Alabama lawmakers voted to allow medical marijuana in the state in 2021. Commission officials are aiming to make the products available in 2024 after a series of delays.
“We remain determined and hopeful that the availability of medical cannabis products, recommended by certified physicians to qualified Alabama patients, is right around the corner," Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission Director John McMillan said in a statement.
The Wednesday order only affects the licenses for the facilities that perform multiple functions from “seed to sale.” The judge last week put a hold on licenses for dispensaries in order to hear a similar challenge. The commission has issued licenses for growers, processors, transportation companies and laboratory testing.
The commission in December selected more than 20 companies to cultivate, process and sell medical marijuana in the state. Twenty-six companies have also requested hearings with the commission after their license applications were rejected.