There are now slightly more than 2,300 medical cannabis patients in Alabama, who will be able to buy product at as many as five MMJ dispensaries by next week, officials said Thursday.
The state finally launched MMJ sales in June with one dispensary and only several hundred patients, but two more retail locations are expected to open soon, Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission officials said, according to the Alabama Reflector.
Justin Aday, the AMCC’s general counsel, estimated that the state’s three currently operating dispensaries will record as much as $140,000 in combined monthly revenue in October, as per the Reflector.
What companies have Alabama medical cannabis permits?
The companies currently in operation are:
- Callie’s Apothecary, the first dispensary to open for business, which has existing locations in Montgomery and Talladega
- Bama Bloom, which has an existing location in Athens
The new dispensaries coming online are Callie’s third location, in Bessemer, and Bama Bloom’s second dispensary, in Birmingham, the Reflector reported.
Have Alabama medical cannabis sales launched?
Alabama has suffered possibly the most tortuous launch to medical cannabis seen in the country after Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed MMJ into law in 2021.
Multiple licensing rounds were revoked or canceled amid accusations of bias and impropriety, forcing regulators to renege on a promise to launch sales in 2024.
Lawsuits alleging impropriety and bias at the state Medical Cannabis Commission have been central to the chaos.
State law allows for a maximum of:
- Five vertically integrated businesses, with each permit-holder allowed to operate up to five retail locations
- 12 licensed medical marijuana cultivators
- Four processors
- Four dispensary-only permits, each of which can operate up to three locations
Has Alabama awarded vertically integrated medical marijuana permits?
Only three companies currently have dispensary-only permits, with the fourth still tied up in long-running litigation.
Those are dispensary-only permits. State law allows for another five vertically integrated permits.
The so-called “integrated facility” licenses are also tied up in court. AMCC officials said Thursday they are “far from awarding” the permits, The Reflector reported.
Alabama cannabis law is very strict and limits available products to oral extracts like oils and tinctures, patches and “gel cubes” only in peach flavor.
Raw cannabis product that can be smoked is prohibited.
How many medical cannabis patients are in Alabama?
With roughly 5.2 million people, Alabama is not considered to be a potentially large market for MMJ.
However, both the strict rules as well as limitations on physician recommendations appear to be limiting the state’s potential further.
With only 2,300 registered patients, Alabama trails far behind states with similar populations – and more permissive laws.
Minnesota, for example, has 5.8 million people and more than 90,000 MMJ patients, according to recent state figures.
Other states in the South have seen rapid growth following the passage of more workable MMJ laws. Georgia’s MMJ patient count has grown from 34,500 in March to more than 56,000 in late September.
