An Alabama judge has extended a temporary restraining order on the issuance of medical marijuana business licenses in yet another delay to the market’s launch.
Montgomery County Circuit Judge James Anderson, according to the Alabama Reflector, also instructed the state’s Medical Cannabis Commission to begin investigative hearings requested by companies denied licenses in the previous round.
The restraining order was pushed by Alabama Always, an MMJ company seeking one of the state’s vertically integrated licenses.
Last December, Alabama regulators issued five integrated licenses to MMJ companies, including:
- Flowerwood Medical Cannabis.
- Specialty Medical Products of Alabama.
- Sustainable Alabama.
- Trulieve AL.
- Wagon Trail Med-Serv.
The application and selection process for those integrated licenses sparked lawsuits after the state’s first two attempts to issue them.
A judge blocked a third round of MMJ licensing in January after noting “a serious question” as to whether it “is also invalid.”
Meanwhile, more than three years have passed since the governor signed into law the Alabama Compassionate Act, which allowed MMJ products for patients suffering from a host of chronic health issues.