Medical marijuana put on hold again after judge revokes licenses for producers for third time
Medical marijuana in the state of Alabama is at a standstill once again. The legal battle continues after a judge decided to revoke licenses for producers who鈥檝e been operating since December 2023. This is the third time this has happened since Governor Kay Ivey legalized medical marijuana in 2021.
This has been an ongoing battle ever since those licenses were given out. That鈥檚 because the judge decided the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission did not follow the protocol to give out medical marijuana licenses. Those in the industry believe there鈥檚 been a battle to decide who gets the limited number of licenses from the state, which keeps delaying the process because new licenses are constantly being awarded. Now, the process is on hold again.
鈥淲e鈥檝e done everything the legislation required the commission to do to be ready to start the program, including a patient registry, the seed, the sale and tracking program,鈥� said John McMillan, with the state cannabis commission. 鈥淎ll of these things cost money, too, because we had to in a contract with the Tarleton is in doing that work. The doctors are ready to go. Everybody鈥檚 ready to go 鈥� except we just can鈥檛 get through this continuing litigation that comes up at every turn.鈥�
Joey Robertson put his life鈥檚 work into opening Wagon Trail Med Serve. He applied for a medical marijuana license and was originally denied. That all changed in December 2023, though. Now, his dreams of helping people with medical needs have been put on hold again.
Robertson said he didn鈥檛 expect this decision to come down from the judge on Tuesday. He feels this is only coming up now because other business owners who applied for licenses in December 2023 and were denied are taking action after a year and a half. Some of those business owners are claiming the state medical cannabis commission did not follow protocol to give out licenses properly. Robertson told 米兰体育 13 that everyone agreed to the terms to get the licenses awarded.
鈥淭hey did not make any public comments that would have somehow argued against this emergency rule being put in place,鈥� Robertson said. 鈥淭hey participated, and it was only after they didn鈥檛 get a license or were awarded. And then a year and a half later, when they knew they were losing in court and the legislative session was coming to an end, that this new lawsuit was argued, filed and held us from providing medicine to patients of Alabama again.鈥�
Robertson said he doesn鈥檛 think the legal battle will last very long. He hopes the courts will sort this out within the next month or two. He鈥檒l file an appeal to get his award back so he can get back to helping those in need. McMillan said the commission will file an appeal, too. He believes it should only take a matter of days for the judge to make a decision.