Bradley: Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission Awards 24 Licenses, Appeals to Follow

Last Thursday was License Award Day 2.0 for the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Nineteen of the applicants awarded licenses in June, before the process was halted due to then-unexplained “inconsistencies” in the scoring process, were awarded licenses the second time around. That came as no surprise to the author, but there were a few notable surprises over the course of the day.

First, there was one change amongst the integrated facility licensees: Verano was replaced by Insa Alabama, LLC. No specific explanation was given for this change, and I suspect we haven’t heard the last from Verano as court cases will almost certainly heat up in the weeks and months ahead. Insa Alabama’s ascension to the top five was particularly notable because it had scored eighth in the June voting, something that I’m sure caused great consternation to those who finished in sixth and seventh place in June.

Second, one of the secure transport applicants that was awarded a license in June was not awarded a license the second time around. Close readers of this blog will remember that the secure transport licensees are not subject to a cap on licenses, so I suspect there was some issue that came to the commission’s attention about the applicant in the past two months.

Third, staff from the University of South Alabama (engaged by the commission to blindly grade applications) gave a presentation about the errors they identified in the initial grading. I found these to be fascinating and, frankly, a pretty bad look for the university. The university concluded that only one application was sufficiently impacted such that it went from receiving a license to not receiving a license – presumably Verano, but the applicant was not mentioned by name. Specifically, the university noted the following errors:

  • Offsetting Error – In one instance in the integrated facility category, an evaluator input the score twice. The additional score “caused a trickle-down effect on the calculation of the averages of all scores below it on the spreadsheet.”
  • Incorrect Weight Applied to Raw Scores – This, according to the University of South Alabama, did not affect rankings since it was consistently applied to all applicant scores in the Processor, Dispensary, and Secure Transporter categories.
  • Sorting Errors – Raw data for the Processor license panel was exported by evaluator ID, rather than application ID. “This caused scores for different applicants, rather than different evaluators, to be averaged together.” By way of example, “Application 1, Evaluation A score was averaged with Applicant 2. Evaluator A score: instead of averaging Applicant 1, Evaluator A and Applicant 1, Evaluator B scores.”
  • Miskey by Evaluators – Quantitative scores were identified in all license panels that were inconsistent with qualitative scores. Upon confirmation from evaluators, some numerical score changes were necessitated.
  • Data Entry Errors – Due to initial miskeys evaluators were contacted via email to provide correct data, and some received data was applied to the incorrect applicant and/or evaluator or not applied at all.

A full list of the applicants awarded licenses is below:

Integrated Facility License
Insa Alabama, LLC
Flowerwood Medical Cannabis, LLC
Southeast Cannabis Company, LLC
Sustainable Alabama, LLC
TheraTrue Alabama, LLC
Cultivator License
Gulf Shore Remedies, LLC
Pure by Sirmon Farms, LLC
Blackberry Farms, LLC
Twisted Herb Cultivation, LLC
I AM FARMS
Greenway Botanicals, LLC
CRC of Alabama, LLC
Processor License
Enchanted Green, LLC
1819 Labs, LLC
Organic Harvest Lab, LLC
Jasper Development Group Inc.
Dispensary License
Yellowhammer Medical Dispensaries, LLC
CCS of Alabama, LLC
RJK Holdings AL, LLC
Statewide Property Holdings AL, LLC
Secure Transport License
Tyler Van Lines, LLC
International Communication, LLC
XLCR, Inc.
State Testing Laboratory License
Certus Laboratories

For many applicants, the decisions yesterday represent the end of the beginning of a long and hopefully prosperous journey. For others, the beginning of the end. But something tells me that there may still be a few fireworks in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County very soon. As always, stay tuned.

Source: https://www.buddingtrendsblog.com/2023/08/alabama-medical-cannabis-commission-awards-24-licenses-appeals-to-follow/

Top 200 Cannabis Lawyers

We Support

Cannabis Law Journal – Contributing Authors

Editor – Sean Hocking

Author Bios

Canada
Matt Maurer – Minden Gross
Jeff Hergot – Wildboer Dellelce LLP

Costa Rica
Tim Morales – The Cannabis Industry Association Costa Rica

Nicaragua
Elvin Rodríguez Fabilena

USA

General
Julie Godard
Carl L Rowley -Thompson Coburn LLP

Arizona
Jerry Chesler – Chesler Consulting

California
Ian Stewart – Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP
Otis Felder – Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP
Lance Rogers – Greenspoon Marder – San Diego
Jessica McElfresh -McElfresh Law – San Diego
Tracy Gallegos – Partner – Fox Rothschild

Colorado
Adam Detsky – Knight Nicastro
Dave Rodman – Dave Rodman Law Group
Peter Fendel – CMR Real Estate Network
Nate Reed – CMR Real Estate Network

Florida
Matthew Ginder – Greenspoon Marder
David C. Kotler – Cohen Kotler

Illinois
William Bogot – Fox Rothschild

Massachusetts
Valerio Romano, Attorney – VGR Law Firm, PC

Nevada
Neal Gidvani – Snr Assoc: Greenspoon Marder
Phillip Silvestri – Snr Assoc: Greenspoon Marder

Tracy Gallegos – Associate Fox Rothschild

New Jersey

Matthew G. Miller – MG Miller Intellectual Property Law LLC
Daniel T. McKillop – Scarinci Hollenbeck, LLC

New York
Gregory J. Ryan, Esq. Tesser, Ryan & Rochman, LLP
Tim Nolen Tesser, Ryan & Rochman, LLP
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Oregon
Paul Loney & Kristie Cromwell – Loney Law Group
William Stewart – Half Baked Labs

Pennsylvania
Andrew B. Sacks – Managing Partner Sacks Weston Diamond
William Roark – Principal Hamburg, Rubin, Mullin, Maxwell & Lupin
Joshua Horn – Partner Fox Rothschild

Washington DC
Teddy Eynon – Partner Fox Rothschild