{"id":70808,"date":"2025-02-06T04:42:11","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T04:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/alabama\/an-alabama-solution-to-medical-cannabis-woes\/"},"modified":"2025-02-06T04:42:11","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T04:42:11","slug":"an-alabama-solution-to-medical-cannabis-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808","title":{"rendered":"An Alabama solution to medical cannabis woes"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Laws don\u2019t matter anymore.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The crooks have figured out the game. If you put on a suit and get elected to office, pretty much anything is fair game. You can ignore procedure and process \u2013 and even have an unelected billionaire holding billions in government contracts upend all of government \u2013 and just change any law you don\u2019t like.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s happening at the federal level as we speak.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Tuesday, a bill was filed in the Alabama Legislature that would make it happen here too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

SB72, sponsored by Sens. Tim Melson, Greg Albritton and David Sessions, all Republicans, would make a number of alterations to the process by which licenses for integrated medical cannabis facilities are awarded. Most notably, it would remove the requirement for an investigatory hearing for any challenges made by an applicant denied a license.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s probably a bit obscure, particularly if you haven\u2019t been pushing aside the weeds in the long running dispute over Alabama\u2019s medical cannabis licensing process. So, let me briefly explain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s holding up that process is the fact that the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission failed to follow Alabama law when awarding licenses. Specifically, the AMCC did not follow the regulations of the Alabama Administrative Procedures Act, which requires an investigatory hearing whenever a qualified applicant challenges the denial of a state-issued license.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Put in layman\u2019s terms, that means that when the state of Alabama offers up a limited number of licenses to do something, and there are more qualified applicants than available licenses issued, any qualified applicant that doesn\u2019t receive <\/span> a license can challenge the decision, forcing the state agency that awarded the license and the applicant receiving the license to prove why it was more deserving.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This process is important for a couple of reasons. First, it creates a record to support the agency\u2019s decision; and second, it guards against corruption, self-dealing and nepotism. If you have to prove why you handed out that license, you probably aren\u2019t going to give it out to an entity your brother-in-law owns.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, the AMCC didn\u2019t follow that requirement when handing out medical cannabis licenses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On three separate occasions, the Commission attempted to award licenses without following this procedure. All three times companies that didn\u2019t receive a license challenged the decisions made by the AMCC, and contested the fact that there is no reasonable process to challenge the AMCC\u2019s decisions. (There were also other problems, such as fairly clear violations of the state\u2019s Open Meetings Act. But those issues likely would have been solved had there been an investigatory hearing process.)<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no question that the AMCC failed to do this. And that it is still refusing to do it \u2013 probably because it can\u2019t possibly justify some of the decisions it made, which clearly ignore the plain language requirements of the medical cannabis act.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is why we\u2019re still in court. It\u2019s why there is still no medical cannabis available to patients.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, in a sane, rational world, the solution to this problem appears to be rather simple: Follow the law.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Go back, work the process as required under the Alabama Administrative Procedures Act, award the licenses, hold the hearings, be done with it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But this is Alabama. And in Alabama, as our Republican leadership likes to remind us, we come up with Alabama solutions to Alabama problems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Alabama solution: We\u2019ll just change the law.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s literally what SB72 does \u2013 it removes the requirement for the hearing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So don\u2019t worry about explaining why you awarded that license. Don\u2019t worry about explaining why you didn\u2019t really follow the requirements of the medical cannabis act. Don\u2019t worry about having to prove \u2013 using laws, facts, regulations and data \u2013 why a decision was made.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, but this is not for all agencies. Just this one specific agency doesn\u2019t have to follow the law.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And don\u2019t go running to court, either. Because that\u2019ll be a waste of time, since SB72 also states that no state court will have the power to intervene in the process. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The bill literally states: \u201c\u2026 the courts of this state shall be powerless and without jurisdiction to issue to an unsuccessful license applicant an injunction, writ, order, or any other form of relief that would have the effect of preventing the commission from issuing a license or invalidating a license previously awarded by the commission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Startling language, no?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fellas, this is not the way. I get we\u2019re all frustrated over the long delay in awarding licenses and getting medical marijuana to patients, but this ain\u2019t the way to solve it. This is rewarding bad actors. This is ignoring processes and regulations put in place to instill public confidence and root out corruption.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s even crazier when you consider that there\u2019s a perfectly reasonable and obvious solution just sitting right in front of everyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Follow. The. Law.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Laws don\u2019t matter anymore.\u00a0 The crooks have figured out the game. If you put on a suit and get elected to office, pretty much anything is fair game. You can ignore procedure and process \u2013 and even have an unelected billionaire holding billions in government contracts upend all of government \u2013 and just change any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":70809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11763],"tags":[33526,12750,37137,13459,35219,27254,4560,3080,37138],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-70808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alabama","tag-2025-legislative-session","tag-alabama","tag-alabama-medical-cannabis-commission","tag-cannabis","tag-legislature","tag-marijuana","tag-medical","tag-solution","tag-woes"],"yoast_head":"\nAn Alabama solution to medical cannabis woes - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Alabama solution to medical cannabis woes - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Laws don\u2019t matter anymore.\u00a0 The crooks have figured out the game. If you put on a suit and get elected to office, pretty much anything is fair game. You can ignore procedure and process \u2013 and even have an unelected billionaire holding billions in government contracts upend all of government \u2013 and just change any […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-06T04:42:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_283829542-scaled-e1720010721263.webp.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1437\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"An Alabama solution to medical cannabis woes\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-06T04:42:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808\"},\"wordCount\":857,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_283829542-scaled-e1720010721263.webp.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"2025 Legislative Session\",\"Alabama\",\"Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission\",\"Cannabis\",\"Legislature\",\"Marijuana\",\"Medical\",\"Solution\",\"woes\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Alabama\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808\",\"name\":\"An Alabama solution to medical cannabis woes - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_283829542-scaled-e1720010721263.webp.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-06T04:42:11+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_283829542-scaled-e1720010721263.webp.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_283829542-scaled-e1720010721263.webp.webp\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1437},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"An Alabama solution to medical cannabis woes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"An Alabama solution to medical cannabis woes - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"An Alabama solution to medical cannabis woes - Som2ny Network","og_description":"Laws don\u2019t matter anymore.\u00a0 The crooks have figured out the game. If you put on a suit and get elected to office, pretty much anything is fair game. You can ignore procedure and process \u2013 and even have an unelected billionaire holding billions in government contracts upend all of government \u2013 and just change any […]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2025-02-06T04:42:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1437,"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_283829542-scaled-e1720010721263.webp.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"An Alabama solution to medical cannabis woes","datePublished":"2025-02-06T04:42:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808"},"wordCount":857,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_283829542-scaled-e1720010721263.webp.webp","keywords":["2025 Legislative Session","Alabama","Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission","Cannabis","Legislature","Marijuana","Medical","Solution","woes"],"articleSection":["Alabama"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808","name":"An Alabama solution to medical cannabis woes - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_283829542-scaled-e1720010721263.webp.webp","datePublished":"2025-02-06T04:42:11+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_283829542-scaled-e1720010721263.webp.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AdobeStock_283829542-scaled-e1720010721263.webp.webp","width":2560,"height":1437},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=70808#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"An Alabama solution to medical cannabis woes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/70809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70808"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=70808"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=70808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}