After years of delays tied to legal battles and court-ordered pauses, Alabama officials say the state is finally on track to launch its long-awaited medical marijuana program—four years after it was first legalized.
The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) confirmed this week that investigative hearings for license applicants can now move forward. The hearings are a required step before final licenses can be issued.
“We had a number of restraining orders from the circuit court level,” said AMCC Director John McMillan. “The court of civil appeals vacated those or asked the circuit judge to vacate them, so that freed us up to be able to move forward.”
The hearings will be overseen by Bernard Harwood, a former Alabama Supreme Court associate justice who will serve as administrative law judge. Harwood will make recommendations to the Commission on how to proceed before final license approvals are issued.
McMillan acknowledged the delays have been frustrating. “This investigative hearing process should have been going on two years ago,” he said. “The legislation is complicated, the rules added more layers, and then there was the litigation on top of that.”
Separately, the Commission awarded a testing lab license this week to Green Health Laboratories, based in Foley. The addition of a certified testing lab marks another key milestone toward finally getting Alabama’s medical marijuana market off the ground.
