The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission announced Monday that a medical cannabis dispensary has opened in Athens, the state’s third and the first in North Alabama.
The store is BamaBloom, the first location for GP6 Wellness, LLC, at 809 U.S. Highway 72 West. It joins Callie’s Apothecary dispensaries in Montgomery, which opened June 3, and Talladega, which opened in August.
The commission said it expects dispensaries to open in Birmingham and Bessemer within the next month.
BamaBloom is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and sells lozenges, capsules, gel cubes, tinctures and topicals, according to the company. GP6 Wellness is majority owned by Kinjal Patel of Birmingham, per AMCC licensing records, and holds sites for two more stores at 541 Cahaba Park Circle in Birmingham and on Gilbert Ferry Road in Attalla.
The Alabama Legislature legalized medical cannabis in 2021.
Lawsuits over the licensing process kept product off shelves for more than four years, and Yellowhammer News covered the litigation throughout.
The commission awarded dispensary licenses to GP6 Wellness, RJK Holdings and CCS of Alabama on Dec. 11, 2025, and the licenses took effect Jan. 8. A fourth license, for Yellowhammer Medical Dispensaries, was stayed pending a hearing. RJK Holdings has sites planned in Oxford, Mobile and Daphne.
Callie’s Apothecary in Montgomery served more than 800 patients and made nearly 1,300 sales in its first three months, according to the commission.
“Having more dispensary locations throughout the state is vital for patient access and affordability,” AMCC Chairman Sam Blakemore said last month.
“Alabama law tightly regulates businesses in the medical cannabis industry and rightfully so,” AMCC Director John McMillan said. “A fully implemented program will mean a minimum of 37 dispensaries across Alabama.”
Athens cleared the way for a dispensary in November 2022, when the city council voted 4-0 to allow them inside city limits. A motion to repeal the ordinance failed on a 2-2 vote in June 2023.
Patients must be diagnosed by a registered certifying physician with one of the qualifying conditions, which include cancer-related pain or nausea, epilepsy, PTSD, Parkinson’s disease, Crohn’s disease, sickle cell anemia, a terminal illness and chronic or intractable pain. Approved products include tablets, capsules, tinctures, gel cubes, topicals, patches and inhaler liquids.
Raw plant material, smoking or vaping products, and edibles such as cookies or candies are not allowed. Patient and caregiver information is on the AMCC website.
