/>iThe Alabama medical cannabis program has been FUBAR for a while now, but there was at least some good news for two applicants last week.
The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC), at its meeting on August 8, 2024, awarded additional cultivator licenses to Pure by Sirmon Farms, LLC and Blackberry Farms, LLC, following the completion of investigative hearings. That brings the total number of cultivator licensees to nine.
It’s unclear what this development means for investigative hearings in other license categories. On the one hand, the AMCC was quick to tout the news as proof that the investigative hearings, and not the courts, are the appropriate avenue for disappointed applicants to seek review of AMCC decisions. Chairman Rex Vaughn stated that “[t]he Commission, in carrying out the administrative process as provided by the legislature and through its actions today, has reiterated its commitment to ensuring that all parties have a fair opportunity to participate in Alabama’s medical cannabis industry.”
On the other hand, a wrinkle in the cultivator category may make the latest decision less significant as a predictor of future decisions. Specifically, there were 12 applicants for cultivation licenses and 12 licenses available under the law. In other words, the AMCC could have awarded licenses to all 12 of the applicants if it had wished. And more specifically for purposes of the investigative hearings, the AMCC did not need to take a license away from an existing licensee or awardee in order to award any new cultivation licenses. That is a huge difference from other licenses categories, including the dispensary and integrated facilities categories, which are currently the subject of court-ordered injunctions and an administrative stay imposed by the AMCC.
Put most simply, the AMCC cannot simply issue additional licenses in those categories because there is a statutory cap on the number of licenses. That means that in order to issue a license to a disappointed applicant in those categories, it would have to take one away from an existing winner and almost certainly cause additional litigation.
The court and the AMCC are well aware of this conundrum, and much of the fight now rests with whether the court will permit a recent AMCC proposal whereby investigative hearings take place before licenses are issued in the dispensary and integrated categories and only issue the licenses following the conclusion of the hearings and the AMCC’s review of them.
All of this is happening while the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals is considering a number of challenges to the circuit court’s decisions regarding the propriety of the AMCC’s licensing decisions. If the appellate court determines that one or more of the trial court’s decisions was in error, that could significantly alter the existing legal landscape.
So, while congratulations are in order to the two new cultivator licensees, it’s safe to say that there will be much more to come on the medical cannabis licensing front in Alabama. As always, we’ll stay on top of it so you don’t have to, and we’ll let you know as this saga plays out. Stay tuned.
