The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission held an emergency meeting Friday and put a hold on the licenses it issued on Monday, saying it had found “potential inconsistencies” in how applicants for licenses were scored.

Dr. Steven Stokes, chairman of the AMCC, read the proposal to stay all proceedings on the issuing of licenses. The commission then voted to approve it.

The resolution said:

“This is a vote to stay all proceedings relating to the current offering of medical cannabis business licenses. The stay is recommended due to the AMCC discovery of potential inconsistencies in the tabulation of scoring data.

“During this pause in proceedings, the commission will seek an independent review of all scoring data. This stay impacts the following procedural requirements of the program.

“First, applicants who were awarded a license on June 12th are not required to pay the license fee by June the 26th. Applicants who were denied award of a license on June the 12th are not required to submit a request for an investigative hearing by June the 26th.

“Licenses that were awarded on June the 12th will not issue on July the 10th.

“This stay will remain in effect until lifted by the commission. Once the stay is lifted, the commission will reconsider awarding of licenses and provide an updated timeline.”

After the AMCC approved the resolution, Stokes said it was good that the AMCC staff discovered the problem.

“I just want to commend the staff for catching this inconsistency,” Stokes said. “I know we’re all concerned about it. But it would have been just a catastrophe if the applicants went through their numbers and found an error. We’ve got to own it up and just say we’re trying to be honest and fair with everyone and we’ve just got to move forward and correct any problems we find and keep going like we’re doing. Every state that’s started a medical marijuana program has had problems. And we’re no different. We’re just going to have to work through them.”

AMCC Director John McMillan, said in a news release Friday, “The Commission will work expeditiously to investigate and identify inconsistencies in the score data. Out of an abundance of caution, we are suspending all current procedural timelines until those matters are resolved.”

At its last meeting on Monday, the AMCC awarded 21 licenses to companies to cultivate, process, transport, test, and dispense medical marijuana products. Ninety companies applied for licenses.

The AMCC was scheduled to issue the licenses on July 10, but Friday’s move puts that on hold, as well as the requirement for the companies awarded licenses to pay their licensing fees. Companies that were not awarded a license had until did not receive a license had until June 26th to ask for an investigative hearing, but that is on hold, too.

AMCC officials have said they expect medical cannabis products to be available by late this year or early next year. They have also said lawsuits could delay that.

This story will be updated.