The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) last week re-issued medical cannabis business licences.
The licences has initially been issued earlier in June, however, these were voided. The authority made the U-turn only four days after announcing the plans to issue the licences, halting the progress after discovering potential inconsistencies in the tabulation of scoring data, citing a need for additional time to seek an independent review of all scoring data.
Speaking at the time, Commission Chairman Rex Vaughn, commented: “Since the Commission’s inception, we have worked to develop a fair, honest, and equitable process to select licensees.
“It is regrettable that the tabulation errors occurred, however we have acknowledged the miscalculations and have taken the necessary steps to ensure that the data provided to the Commission was accurate. We are sincerely appreciative of the Court for allowing us to take corrective actions.”
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A meeting held on Thursday, 10 August, 2023 saw the AMCC re-issued the licences to all of the initial applicants bar one, plus further applicants. The licences are awarded for integrated facilities, cultivators, processors, transporters and a testing laboratory.
The AMCC has written: “Companies that were not awarded a license yesterday have two weeks to request an investigative hearing by the AMCC. Two weeks after that, the AMCC plans to issue licenses to those companies awarded yesterday.
“Yesterday’s award does not guarantee a license but starts an investigative process that will include inspections of the sites of those awarded.
“The Board of Medical Examiners may not issue Medical Cannabis Certification Permits to physicians until the AMCC has issued at least one license each for a cultivator, a processor, a secure transporter, and a dispensary.”
These included the awarding of licences for five integrated facilities, four cultivators, four processors, four dispensaries, three transport businesses and one testing lab.