Montgomery, AL: Regulators initially awarded licenses to 21 companies seeking to operate in the state’s nascent medical cannabis market, but then later suspended the process due to inconsistencies in how applicants were evaluated. At least one applicant has also filed suit against the Commission, resulting in the issuance of a temporary restraining order that restricts regulators from issuing any new licenses until later this month.
Commission members have called for an independent review of the scoring process and they have indicated that they will not consider any additional applications until the review is completed.
Lawmakers approved legislation in 2021 regulating the production and distribution of certain cannabis products to qualified patients. The law allows registered patients to possess up to “70 daily dosages” of medical cannabis at one time. Doses of authorized cannabis products will be capped at a maximum of 50 milligrams for the first 90 days. Doctors may raise this dosage to 75 milligrams after 90 days.
Patients are not permitted access to cannabis flower material or cannabis-infused edible products under the law. Rather, medical cannabis formulations need to be in the form of: “tablets, capsules, tinctures, or gel cubes for oral use; gels, oils or creams for topical use, or suppositories, transdermal patches, nebulizers, or liquids or oils for use in an inhaler.” Almost no other state imposes similar restrictions on the types of products available.
Physicians will only be able to recommend medical cannabis to patients if they undergo requite training, and if they document that “conventional medical treatment or therapy has failed” to alleviate symptoms in their patients.
Further details on Alabama’s medical cannabis access law are available from NORML.