When the Alabama legislature approved the Wesley 'Ato' Hall Compassion Act in 2021, it legalized the pathway for medical cannabis for Alabamians who meet one of several qualifying health conditions.
More than two years later, though, not one Alabama resident has received the first dose of medical marijuana as the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission continues to stumble out of the starting gate with allegations of improper scoring of applicants all the way to secret meetings.
The commission's third attempt to issue the state's five licenses to Integrated Facility applicants was met with another lawsuit by a group of unsuccessful applicants. This time not only the scoring process for the licenses is under attack. Additional challenges have been made to the small number of licenses available as well as legality of the commission's investigative hearing process.
Natural Relief Cultivation, LLC, was among the 28 applicants denied an Integrated Facility license. These licenses are particularly valuable because the license holder can cultivate cannabis, process it into medical cannabis, including packaging and labeling it, and may transport, dispense and sell medical cannabis to registered patients at up to five dispensary locations.
Natural Relief Cultivation, LLC, is co-owned by Brian Faught, who owns Arkansas' largest medical cannabis dispensary. Faught and his company reached an agreement with the City of Russellville to purchase 28 acres on Highway 24 East from the city, conditioned on Natural Relief Cultivation's license being granted, which is wasn't when the commission announced its five grantees on December 12th.
The lawsuit is pending in Montgomery County Circuit Court, where a judge will allow the plaintiffs to conduct depositions of commission members. Judge James Anderson's ruling is being challenged by attorneys for the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission, who don't want their clients having to answer questions in a deposition.
While there have been no direct allegations of corruption in the licensing process, there's plenty of foul-smelling finger pointing that addresses the integrity of the commission's decisions.
Last month's licenses were awarded for the third time after legal challenges forced the process to start fresh two times.
The depositions would allow the plaintiffs to specifically question committee members about the process, which hasn't exactly been open and obvious to this point.
Judge Anderson entered an injunction halting any Integrated Facility Licenses moving forward after the December 12th awards were made. Attorneys for the plaintiffs may conduct six depositions with only five days' notice, and all of them must be done by January 19th, a very small window in the legal world.
Some have pondered why attorneys for the commission don't want their clients to have to answer questions under oath. But allowing depositions to move forward should bring some transparency to a process that has, at times, seemed cloak and dagger.
Sen. Larry Stutts, who represents District Six including Franklin County, has been a critic of the entire licensing process.
“You have a few people selecting a few applicants and to get selected is worth millions of dollars,” Stutts told the FFP. “That opens up the floodgates for corruption.
“And I'm not sure some of this controversy isn't an intentional attempt to attack the process and then finally get the commission to say 'okay we'll just let everyone have licenses. You can only fight it so long. This is the first step toward legalizing marijuana for recreational use in our state and I remain opposed to that,” Stutts added.
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