Alabama Awards 20 Medical Cannabis Licenses in Yet Another Do-Over

Alabama’s medical cannabis regulators swung the bat a third time Dec. 1, hoping to avoid a strikeout in their licensing process.

The state’s Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) approved 20 licenses during its regular meeting Friday, including seven cultivation, four processor, four dispensary, four secure transporter and one testing laboratory permit. Licenses for vertically integrated operators are expected to be awarded during the commission’s Dec. 12 meeting.

This most recent attempt to kickstart the state’s medical cannabis market—more than two years since Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed legalization reform in May 2021—comes after the AMCC initially approved license winners in June 2023 via a blind, third-party scoring process. But regulators voided those awarded licenses over “potential inconsistencies” in the scoring and attempted to re-award the licenses in do-over on Aug. 10.

Lawsuits from unsuccessful applicants and those who were left out of the do-over were filed, and claims that commission members violated the state’s Open Meetings Act led to a pause in the process altogether until the specifics for a third round could get ironed out: the Dec. 1 attempt.

This third and most recent attempt to award licenses comes after the commission allowed applicants to provide public presentations before the body Nov. 27-29. AMCC members participated in discussions with the applicants during this three-day process.

“The presentations we received from applicants this week were insightful and allowed commission members to ask questions about the contents and merits of their application,” AMCC Chairman Rex Vaughn said in a public statement. “We received applications and presentations from applicants who would make terrific licensees, which made our job of selecting a limited number of them challenging. However, I trust this commission’s wisdom and discretion in selecting the best applicants to serve as licensees in Alabama’s newest industry.”

The following applicants were awarded licenses on Dec. 1 and have 14 days from that date to submit their appropriate license fees:

Cultivation:

• CRC of Alabama LLC
• Greenway Botanicals LLC
• Gulf Shore Remedies LLC
• Native Black Cultivation
• Creek Leaf Wellness Inc.
• Twisted Herb Cultivation LLC
• I AM FARMS

Processor:

• Organic Harvest Lab LLC
• Coosa Medical Manufacturing
• 1819 Labs LLC
• Jasper Development Group Inc.

Dispensary:

• CCS of Alabama LLC
• GP6 Wellness LLC
• Capitol Medical LLC
• RJK Holdings AL LLC

Secure Transport:

• Alabama Secure Transport LLC
• Tyler Van Lines LLC
• Pick Up My Things
• International Communication LLC

Testing Lab:

• Certus Laboratories
  

Per state statute, the AMCC can award up to 12 cultivation, four processor, four dispensary and five integrated facility licenses as well as an unspecified number of secure transport and state testing laboratory licenses.

In addition to next week’s awards for the integrated facility licenses, this leaves room for the commission to award another five cultivation licenses as well as more secure transport and testing lab licenses. The commission “intends” to do this in a second license offering that’s to be announced, according to AMCC Director of External Affairs Brittany Peters.

The winners of the 20 licenses awarded on Dec. 1 will now have to pass pre-issuance site inspections before receiving their actual permits to operate.

“I have to say that some of the top people that are on this list had some of the most sensational presentations, and I’m so encouraged by their readiness,” AMCC member William Saliski said during the Dec. 1 meeting. “I think they could probably start growing plants tomorrow if we asked them.”

In addition, unsuccessful applicants who were denied licenses in the awards process have 14 days to request an investigative hearing before the commission for reconsideration.

Among the 90 applications the commission advanced in April during the original review process, 38 were for integrated facility licenses—the ones the AMCC plans to award on Dec 12.

Chicago-based multistate operator Verano was awarded one of the five integrated facility licenses during the initial third-party scoring awards process in June, but then the company filed a lawsuit when it was left out of the Aug. 10 do-over awards. That lawsuit was dismissed.

Personal opinions “had to have played a role” in the Aug. 10 re-awarding process, otherwise there would not have been a deviation from the blind, third-party scores, James Leventis, the executive vice president of Legal, Regulatory and Government Affairs at Verano, previously told Cannabis Business Times following that do-over.

Leventis said Verano is a company that was built on blind, third-party licensing applications, just like the one that originally took place in Alabama. Before joining the team at Verano, Leventis said he was involved in licensing processes in dozens of states where objective scoring was key to successful program launches.

“In the states that follow that process and don’t veer from that process and stick to the rule of law and stick to due process … what happens is the program launches while administrative procedures are taking place,” he said. “Sometimes more licenses are awarded down the line. Not always, but different things can happen.”

Veering from the third-party scoring process, Leventis said Alabama is now in a loop of re-awarding licenses and facing ensuing litigation that could potentially end up delaying the state’s program launch for years to come.