Late last week, after nearly five years of controversies and legal holdups, the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission, AMCC, approved an order granting dispensary licenses to four applicants—RJK Holdings LLC, CCS of Alabama LLC, GP6 Wellness LLC, and Yellowhammer Medical Dispensaries LLC. Now, Alabama could see as many as 12 medical marijuana dispensaries open next year.
While the news is a welcome breakthrough for the Alabama Cannabis Coalition—a grassroots advocacy group looking to expand access to cannabis in the state—the organization remains critical of the AMCC, bemoaning the limited number of licenses approved and the commission’s slow pace of implementation.
“The Alabama Cannabis Coalition, ACC, is calling out the State of Alabama’s failed approach to ‘medical’ cannabis as the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission moves to award only twelve dispensary licenses statewide—more than four and a half years after the passage of SB46 in 2021,” the Coalition stated in a recent press release.
“Even with today’s step forward, the Coalition stresses that the situation remains unacceptable,” the organization continued. “ACC recognizes that if the ‘integrated license holders’ are eventually permitted to proceed, additional dispensaries will become available—but that is far too little, far too late. Citizens who have waited years for relief should never have been denied access in the first place.”
H. Marty Schelper, the ACC’s founder and president, spoke more to the organization’s frustration in a statement published following the AMCC’s announcement.
“While some may see today’s announcement as progress, we see it as a deeply immoral reminder of how our state has failed its people,” Schelper stated. “It should never have taken 4.5 years to even get to this point—and twelve dispensaries in a state with 67 counties is an abysmal excuse for access.”
“What we have witnessed over the past 4.5 years is a travesty,” she continued. “When government intervenes in markets by tightly controlling licenses, eliminating competition, and handpicking winners and losers, this is exactly what you get: delayed implementation, inflated prices, and citizens left behind.”
According to Schelper and the ACC, the AMCC’s shortcomings are reflective of flaws inherent in Senate Bill 46, the legislation which legalized medical cannabis in the state and created the Medical Cannabis Commission in 2021.
“When SB46 was finally passed on May 6, 2021—after Governor Kay Ivey insisted on a ‘study commission’ to determine if ‘medical’ Cannabis was even needed—ACC and allied advocates warned that the legislation eliminated any chance of a true free market,” the ACC stated. “Instead, it created what they describe as a state-sanctioned ‘legal’ medical Cannabis cartel.”
“In 2019, a delegation from Alabama Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition, ARAMP, led by Schelper, met with Senator Tim Melson and Representative Mike Ball to raise concerns about SB46—specifically the extremely limited product availability and the absence of free-market principles,” the group continued. “While the delegation appreciated the opportunity to be heard, it became clear that the framework of control and overregulation was already set.”
Moving forward, the ACC says it plans to continue advocating for free-market reforms and expanded cannabis access for Alabamians.
“Free markets would have solved 95 percent of the problems we’ve seen with the implementation of so-called ‘medical’ Cannabis in Alabama,” said Schelper. “Twelve dispensaries for an entire state is not a solution. It’s a barrier, and our citizens deserve better.”
