Alabama Political Reporter
In a fiery escalation of Alabama’s seemingly endless medical cannabis debacle, Alabama Always, LLC has launched a legal broadside against the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC), filing for partial summary judgment and a permanent injunction that could unravel the Commission’s already fraying licensing process. The latest court filings accuse the AMCC of repeated violations of the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act (AAPA), alleging a laundry list of procedural failures that have paralyzed the rollout of medical cannabis for over a year, keeping relief out of reach for thousands of Alabamians.
At the heart of the lawsuit is a scathing critique of the AMCC’s handling of integrated license awards and denials on June 12, August 10, and December 12, 2023. Alabama Always argues that these awards are not just flawed—they’re outright illegal. The plaintiff asserts that the Commission ignored mandatory contested case provisions of the AAPA, skirted the required hearing process, and violated its own blind scoring rules, essentially turning the licensing process into a chaotic, unaccountable mess. It’s a mess, they say, further compounded by the AMCC’s stubborn adherence to an “investigative hearing” process that Alabama Always describes as an affront to both transparency and fairness.
“The Commission’s insistence on pushing forward with a blatantly invalid hearing process will do nothing but further delay the state’s medical cannabis program,” Alabama Always states in its motion, arguing that the hearing procedures violate not only the letter of the AAPA but also basic principles of due process. The motion requests that the court void all previous awards and denials, halt the AMCC’s current practices, and mandate a complete overhaul of the process to align with legal standards.
Read more at https://www.alreporter.com/2024/09/18/new-amcc-lawsuit-chaos-delays-and-broken-rules-in-alabamas-cannabis-rollout/
