‘Real-Life American Hero’ And Veteran Can’t Get His Medicine As Alabama Medical Cannabis Legal Saga Continues, Activists Say Enough Already
Alabama lawmakers green-lighted the medical marijuana program in 2021, but litigation over licenses caused delays in license allocation, leaving patients in need of the plant on standby for three years.
“This delay is not just an administrative failure but a critical issue impacting the health and well-being of countless individuals in our state.” That’s according to Alabama State Sen. Merika Coleman represents Senate District 19 and other cannabis activists and advocates, who remain tireless in their fight for the launch of the medical cannabis market.
In his op-ed published in Alabama Political Reporter, Sen. Coleman, whose father – “a real-life American hero, a wheelchair-bound disabled veteran who fought in Desert Storm I -needs medical cannabis to alleviate chronic pain, asked the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) that was supposed to be awarded licenses by the end of 2023, or at the latest 2024, “what went wrong?”
He listed four critical issues that AMCC needs to address as it “failed to suffer Alabamians,” including:
The commission didn’t follow Alabama Code 20-2A-50’s guidelines;
The applicants were not aware that the system used by AMCC could not accept application materials that exceeded 10MB;
Applicants were approved to advance through the licensing process regardless of the initial …