Alabama announces that medical cannabis licenses will not be available until 2022

Alabama regulators said last week that medical marijuana is unlikely to be available for purchase in the state until 2023.

The Associated Press reported that the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission “has a lot to do before people can apply for a medical cannabis license, so it is not pushing for a date that could allow sales next year.”

The news comes after the board of directors previously said that the start date for the sale may be accelerated.

But according to Rex Vaughn, vice chairman of the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission, the panel has a full plate. He told the Montgomery Advertiser newspaper that “the group has other duties to do, including prescribing and training doctors,” while also expressing “concern that further legislative action – necessary to move the data – does that Medicinal Cannabis Act could be subject to attempts to weaken it. “

“At this point, we decided not to ask lawmakers to dig up and reopen a bill,” Vaughn said, as quoted by the Montgomery Advertiser. “We could lose what we have.”

Alabama lawmakers passed law in May that legalized medical cannabis in the state for patients suffering from more than a dozen different qualifying medical conditions, including cancer, chronic pain, depression, sickle cell anemia, terminal diseases, and HIV / AIDS.

The law was signed by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, a Republican, about a week later.

“This is certainly a sensitive and emotional issue and is under constant investigation,” Ivey said in a statement after the bill was signed. “At the state level, we had a study group that has done a lot of research on this topic, and I’m interested in the potential that good medical cannabis can have for the chronically ill or what it can do to improve the quality of life for these people.” her last days. “

Getting the bill across the finish line was a multi-year effort for medical cannabis boosters in Alabama. Two years ago lawmakers failed to pass laws that would have legalized treatment. Instead, the legislature set up a policy research commission in a series of public sessions.

In late 2019, the Alabama Medical Cannabis Study Commission decided to recommend lawmakers pursue laws that allow treatment.

The bill was never enacted last year, but lawmakers got the job this spring. It is now up to the regulators to put the new law into practice.

The Montgomery Advertiser noted last week that proponents of the bill had hoped to make medical marijuana available by the fall of 2022, however, since the law only allowed “the commission on 01/01/2022” it is “unlikely that cannabis would occur.” Could be cultivated, processed and ready for transport in 2023 ”.

“When you look at the rules and regulations approval schedules, the growth cycle, and the 60 days people have to get into business after licensing, it adds up,” said John McMillian, executive director of the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission said last week as quoted by the Montgomery Advertiser.

Once doctors are ready to begin prescribing, cannabis would “be available in tablets, capsules, gums, lozenges, topical oils, suppositories, patches, and in nebulizers or oil for vaporizing. The law prohibits smoking or vaporizing medical cannabis or baking in food, ”the Associated Press reported.