A Montgomery County judge has invalidated Alabama’s latest attempt to issue medical cannabis licenses, citing improper use of an emergency rule. The decision marks another setback in the state’s tumultuous cannabis rollout, which has faced years of delays, legal challenges, and administrative missteps.
Court Ruling Nullifies 2023 Cannabis Licensing Awards
On April 21, 2025, Circuit Judge James Anderson ruled that the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) improperly used an emergency rule to re-award integrated facility licenses in December 2023. According to Anderson, the AMCC failed to meet the statutory threshold for invoking emergency rulemaking under the Alabama Administrative Procedures Act.
The court found that ongoing litigation and the continued unavailability of medical cannabis in the state did not constitute an “immediate danger to public health, safety, or welfare,” which is legally required to justify emergency procedures. As a result, the licensing awards granted during that process have been declared void.
Impacted Licenses and Legal Disputes
The AMCC’s December 2023 meeting resulted in the conditional award of five vertically integrated facility licenses and four dispensary licenses. These integrated licenses would have allowed recipients to cultivate, process, transport, and operate up to five dispensaries. Dispensary licensees were permitted to open up to three locations.
However, lawsuits quickly followed. Plaintiffs including Jemmstone Alabama LLC, Bragg Canna of Alabama LLC, and Insa Alabama LLC—unsuccessful applicants—filed for summary judgment, naming the AMCC and Trulieve AL Inc. as defendants. Notably, Trulieve received a license in December 2023 despite not ranking among the top five scorers, further complicating the legal landscape.
Judge Anderson emphasized that the emergency rule lacked legal justification and highlighted inconsistencies in the AMCC’s scoring and selection methods, including instances where lower-scoring applicants were awarded licenses over higher-ranked ones.
Regulatory Turmoil Since Legalization
Alabama legalized medical cannabis in 2021, empowering the 14-member AMCC to oversee the licensing process. The commission first awarded licenses in June 2023 but rescinded them just four days later due to scoring errors during a blind review conducted by a third-party evaluator.
The fallout from those miscalculations led to multiple do-overs. In its third attempt, the AMCC introduced the now-invalidated emergency rule to allow applicants to present their business plans to commissioners. However, the rule’s legal fragility and the commission’s inconsistent adherence to its own scoring further undermined the process.
Appeals Expected, Future Uncertain
Sustainable Alabama LLC, one of the five awardees from the voided December round, has already signaled plans to appeal the court’s ruling. The company’s legal counsel argued that the emergency rule was developed collaboratively during a court-mediated process intended to resolve applicant concerns.
As Alabama’s medical cannabis licensing remains mired in controversy, the path forward appears uncertain. Stakeholders now await further legal developments, while patients and businesses remain in limbo nearly four years after legalization.
