AL Medical Cannabis Commission hoping to stop lawsuits with new rules
Could the third time be the charm for the state's medical marijuana commission? Twice, licenses have been handed out, and twice, the whole process has been put on hold. Now, the commission has approved emergency rules to make the process of selecting who gets a license more transparent and hopefully avoid more litigation.
For 49-year-old Amanda Taylor, the work to bring medical marijuana to Alabama has been painfully slow. She calls it 鈥渉eartbreaking." She's from Cullman, but when her multiple sclerosis progressed, she had to move to Arizona to get the only treatment she says helped.
She said, 鈥淚 was a medical refugee and fled. I had gotten down; I had battled a disease called gastroparesis and actually cannabis oil completely healed that.鈥�
Taylor has watched the medical cannabis commission take one step forward and two steps back. Part of the issue is the dozens of lawsuits filed by license applicants who say the process hasn't been fair. Alabama Always, a Montgomery company, has filed one of those suits. After investing about $7 million into their facility, they were not issued a license.
Attorney Will Somerville said, 鈥淭he commission should be evaluating people based on whether they are available to commence cultivation within 60 days after receiving a license and reaching full capacity. Most of the applicants who got awarded licenses, or five of them, aren't able to do that.鈥�
Somerville says Alabama Always could be producing pharmaceutical marijuana for Alabamians within months.
Now, it seems the commission will have to rescind awarded licenses for a second time and start the process again. The commission is hopeful these new emergency rules will bring more transparency to resolve the dozens of pending lawsuits and quell any new litigation moving forward. They'll be on an aggressive timeline to re-issue licenses for the third and potentially final time before the end of the year.
Taylor is optimistic.
She said, 鈥淚鈥檓 leaving with hope. I'm leaving today with hope. I have been heartbroken. But today, I leave with hope.鈥�
Once in place, medical marijuana will be available for people meeting certain conditions, including MS. Others include autism, Crohn鈥檚 disease, certain cancers, depression and Parkinson's. You can find the full list on the medical cannabis commission's website.