Alabama commission approves licenses for medical marijuana dispensaries as program eyes 2026 start

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission on Thursday approved licenses for dispensaries, a key step to making medical marijuana available in the state after years of delay.

Commission Chairman Rex Vaughn estimated the products will be available in the spring of 2026. The state’s medical marijuana program has been delayed by false starts and litigation over who should hold the licenses to sell and grow cannabis

“It’s a pivotal day for us. There is no doubt. We’ve been waiting for this day for a long time,” Vaughn said.

The commission on Thursday approved licenses for three dispensary companies. The commission in the coming weeks will consider the license for a fourth dispensary. Each company can operate three storefronts across the state.

The next step will be to get interested physicians certified to issue cannabis cards to patients and to establish a patient registry, Vaughn said.

The day was a long time coming for Amanda Taylor, who has advocated for years for Alabama to begin a medical marijuana program. She used medical cannabis to relieve the symptoms of her multiple sclerosis when she lived in Arizona. Taylor was present when Gov Kay Ivey signed the legislation to authorize the program.

“I’m absolutely elated today because we are on the cusp of having a working program,” Taylor said. Taylor said as a well-known patient advocate that she has people “continually” asking about the availability of medical marijuana in the state.

Alabama lawmakers in 2021 approved a medical cannabis program after years of resistance and skepticism from lawmakers in the Deep South state. The program had a number of false starts, including accusations of improper scoring and secret deliberations. License awards have held up by litigation.

Most states have medical marijuana programs and nearly half allow recreational use. Twenty-four states have legalized recreational marijuana, and 40 states allow the medical use of cannabis products, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The commission has now issued licenses to cultivators, processors and dispensaries. However, licenses have not been issued for five integrated “seed-to-sale” licenses where companies grow, process and operate their own dispensaries. The fight over the integrated licenses has spun multiple lawsuits.

The integrated license holders can operate five dispensary storefronts. When the commission awards those licenses, it should boost the number of dispensary sites across the state from 12 to 37.

The holders of cultivator licenses have already been harvesting marijuana Vaughn said. Now, they have to get that product to processors, he said.

“It should not have taken this long. Absolutely, it should not have,” Vaughn said. “But realistically, I knew in the back of my mind, based on what other states have encountered, that, that we were not out of the ordinary.”