The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission on Thursday adopted a plan for evaluating business license applicants that calls for licenses to be issued in January, with products hopefully available about three months later.

Under the new plan, the AMCC will hear presentations from license applicants in late November and early December. The AMCC will award licenses in early December. After a due diligence period that will include site inspections, as well as an opportunity for investigative hearings for applicants denied licenses, the AMCC plans to issue licenses on Jan. 9.

AMCC Chair Rex Vaughn said if the timeline holds, products should be available in the spring of 2024, considering what he said was an approximate 90-day window from the start of cultivation to sales starting in licensed dispensaries.

During a meeting Thursday at the Alabama State House, the 12-member AMCC followed through on a plan started at its last meeting two weeks ago, when it approved new rules that will allow the 90 business license applicants to make presentations to the commission.

The AMCC awarded licenses in June and again in August but put a hold on those decisions both times because of mistakes and because of lawsuits filed by applicants. More than 25 companies are listed as parties in a consolidated lawsuit pending in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

To some extent, the litigation is moving in tandem with the AMCC’s efforts. On Wednesday, Circuit Judge James Anderson modified a temporary restraining order to allow the AMCC to take certain steps to move the process forward.

Vaughn said he believes the plan to allow companies to make presentations to the board will help resolve some of the disputes over who gets the limited number of licenses.

“I think it will give every applicant an equal opportunity to give their game plan as to what they want to do in this industry,” Vaughn said. “And every commission member to be able to see each applicant, the pros and the cons of each one. So there will be parity across the board. Cultivators. Integrators. Everyone. Everyone will have the same opportunity to have the same platform for a great presentation.”

The presentations will be made at public meetings, as will the license awards. Some of the applicants have accused the AMCC of violating the state’s open meetings law when it met privately to consider license applicants in June and in August. Vaughn said all the proceedings will now be open.

The Legislature approved medical marijuana in 2021 and created the AMCC to oversee the new industry, which will be fully intrastate. The AMCC will license cultivators, processors, dispensaries, transporters, and testing labs, as well as integrated companies that will be authorized to cultivate, process, transport, and dispense.

The law capped the number of licensees in some categories, 12 cultivators, four processors, four dispensaries, and five integrated licensees.

Some companies that were passed over for the license awards in June and August are parties in the litigation, as are some of the companies that were picked. The AMCC has rescinded all of the licensing awards and denials it made in June and August.

Antoine Mordican Sr., of Birmingham, one of three owners of Native Black Cultivation, said he is optimistic about the chance to make his case to the AMCC. Native Black Cultivation was denied a cultivators license in June and August. The company has grown hemp under a program regulated by the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries since 2020.

“This will give us the opportunity to be able to present to the commission, to be able to do this out in the public as well, so that the people can be able to see and hear from the applicants and the actual companies that are going to be running the cannabis industry here in Alabama” Mordican said after Thursday’s meeting. “So it will allow us the opportunity for us to be able to present our purpose, our reason why it is that we’re doing what we’re doing. And most importantly, our vision that we see for Alabama.”

Marty Schelper, founder and president of the Alabama Cannabis Coalition, which advocates for legalization of marijuana, said product availability is long overdue. Schelper has some doubts that will happen as early as Vaughn said was possible.

“So three months, 90 days, yeah, a crop can be grown, but is there going to be an applicant that is issued a license, not just awarded a license, but issued a license, to be ready to go and get the product ready?” Schelper said. “I think it seems like maybe a little bit of false hope. For the citizens of the state of Alabama, I hope they can get it to them as soon as possible.”

Brandon Pollard traveled from Ranburne in east Alabama to attend Thursday’s AMCC meeting. Pollard, 47, said he will use medical cannabis as part of what he described as a “full boat” treatment of medications, supplements, and therapy for a congenital condition that causes spinal stenosis. Pollard said surgery in 2018 failed to bring him any relief and he suffers from pain and cramps.

Pollard said it takes the right form of medical cannabis to help with his pain. Pollard wants to see the Alabama-made products available, but also believes he should not have to wait on that to obtain the medication legally.

“What I would also like now is to be able to get my marijuana from Colorado,” Pollard said. “Free market.”

But the Alabama law only allows use of the products that will be made in the state.

The law says those products can include gummies, tablets, capsules, tinctures, patches, oils, and other forms allowed by the legislation.

Patients who receive a medical cannabis card from a doctor will be able to buy the products at licensed dispensaries.

The products can be used to treat a wide range of conditions, including chronic pain, weight loss and nausea from cancer, depression, panic disorder, epilepsy, muscle spasms caused by disease or spinal cord injuries, PTSD, and others.

Long wait drags on for patients in Alabama as medical cannabis hits snags