William Somerville, attorney for Alabama Always, is continuing to make the case that his company should have been awarded an integrated license to grow, process, and dispense medical cannabis. Montgomery County Circuit Judge James Anderson is considering revising a temporary restraining order he implemented earlier this year.
Alabama Always has joined several other companies in challenging how Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) awarded licenses.
Somerville told Dale Jackson of “News and Views” on Talk 99.5 in Birmingham that he believes the judge will eventually fix the problem.
“I think the judge is going to fix it. I think he has the ability now,” he said. “I think all this procedural machinations by the mission are sort of at an end, and I think the judge is going to do what it takes to move the process forward.”
RELATED: Appeals court clears path for lawsuit against Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission
Alabama passed the Compassion Act in 2021 to legalize medical marijuana, but the litigation over the licensing disputes has stopped the industry from getting off the ground.
“And so the judge, I think, needs to order them to comply with the statutory requirements, which they haven’t done,” Somerville said,” and the problem now is the commission is trying to do everything it can to avoid letting the judge make these decisions.
“We want somebody to actually consider the statutory criteria and decide, do you satisfy these statutory criteria? That’s never been done,” he continued. “In three attempts to issue licenses, the commission has never explained why it made any of those decisions. And so we think, I think Judge Anderson is prepared to do that.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11 am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
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