A Montgomery County Circuit Court judge is considering revising a temporary restraining order that has kept the issuance of medical marijuana business licenses in limbo. But what that change would entail is still unknown.

Judge James Anderson on Tuesday heard arguments from attorneys representing the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission and companies seeking licenses. The immediate consideration is whether to allow investigative hearings to move forward, which could be a meaningful leap toward issuing licenses for vertical integration and dispensaries.

“Definitely a step in the right direction,” said Paula Savchenko, who represents Pure by Sirmon Farms LLC, one of the companies awarded a cultivation license in the initial round conducted by the AMCC.

Prior to the hearing, Anderson directed the commission and companies denied licenses to provide a joint proposed order that would allow for investigative hearings but prevent licenses from being issued immediately.

If the judge revises the order, an administrative law judge would be assigned to conduct hearings for vertical integration and dispensary licenses. That judge would then issue a recommendation to the AMCC, which could either revise or agree with the recommendation.

“We’re about two, three months out from that, I would say,” Savchenko estimated.

However, she also cautioned that several steps in this process could go “positive or negative, depending on which side you’re on.” Anderson has not definitively stated how he will revise the order, and the AMCC is not obligated to agree with the administrative law judge’s recommendations.

Savchenko also pointed to a growing concern among some: While cultivator and processor licenses are moving forward, the hold on vertical integration and dispensary licenses is creating financial strain.

“It’s just really going to hurt the industry because you’re going to have groups that are paying to keep their licenses operational while they don’t even have outlets to fill them into,” she said. “There really should be pressure put on the commission at this point to get that side of the industry moving and licensed.”

The ongoing legal challenges have delayed the implementation of Alabama’s medical marijuana program, which was legalized in 2021. The law allows for the production of various cannabis products to treat conditions including chronic pain, epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The AMCC has attempted to award licenses three times since June 2023.

Will Somerville, an attorney for Alabama Always, a company rejected for licenses, told reporters after Tuesday’s hearing that he would like the judge to keep the injunction in place, invalidate the December license awards in the integrated category, and rule that the commission’s planned investigative hearing process is invalid.

“The process is clearly flawed,” Somerville said, according to ALReporter.com. “… Because right now we’ve got a situation where they keep issuing licenses and keep doing so in violation of the law and it’s just got the whole process mired in mud.”

Bryan Taylor, attorney for TheraTrue Alabama LLC, which received licenses in the first two rounds but not the third, said that they were seeking answers about the December decision, questioning why all the licenses changed.

State lawmakers attempted to address some of these issues in its last session, to no avail. Another hearing will be scheduled soon.

Alabama’s medical marijuana program remains stalled three years since its creation, amid ongoing legal battles over business licenses.

The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals issued two rulings last week that could reshape the dispute, according to local media reports.

One decision ordered the dismissal of a consolidated “master” case against the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC), citing sovereign immunity.

However, a second ruling allowed a lawsuit by Alabama Always, a company denied an integrated license, to proceed.

William Somerville, attorney for Alabama Always, said the company will now seek discovery to examine the AMCC’s decision-making process.

“We will be able to now ask for discovery – where we can determine exactly how this commission has operated – and bring everything out in the open,” Somerville told AL.com.

The AMCC has so far issued licenses for cultivators, processors, transporters, and a testing lab. However, integrated company and dispensary licenses remain on hold due to litigation.

The commission can issue only five integrated licenses, which allow companies to go vertical, despite receiving more than 30 applications.

Somerville criticized the commission’s “somewhat secretive” scoring system, telling WPMI-TV, “Nobody knows, I don’t even think the commissioners know why certain people were granted licenses and other people weren’t.”

“There’s no written explanation of it,” he added. “There’s no indication that any of the required statutes were complied with.”

The court dismissed the original master case due to a technical flaw: it didn’t name individual commissioners as defendants, only the agency. Alabama Always had already recognized the issue in its original case and moved to dismiss it in April, as it filed the new suit.

“The two decisions issued today…highlight the procedural complexities of the litigation against the Commission over the past year,” the AMCC said in a statement after the Friday ruling. “The AMCC legal team will continue to defend the Commission’s actions in carrying out its statutory duties.”

The state’s medical cannabis law, approved by lawmakers in 2021, allows for the use of medical marijuana for specific qualifying conditions, including chronic pain, epilepsy, cancer, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

However, Alabama’s program is more restrictive than many other states. The law limits THC content to 75 milligrams per dose, with a daily maximum of 50 milligrams for most patients. It also prohibits smoking or vaping of cannabis products, limiting consumption to oral tablets, capsules, tinctures, topicals, and other non-smokable forms.

The April filing:

alabamafiling