Patients sue Alabama regulators for access to medical marijuana

The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission, a government agency that regulates medically prescribed marijuana in the state, is facing a lawsuit for failing to maintain a patient database and establish a workable program for distribution. 

The lawsuit is filed by five families whose children have medical conditions that are deemed treatable with THC therapies. Under a law passed in 2021 that legalizes the medically necessary use of cannabis in the state, the families are entitled to access, they argue in court records filed in Montgomery, Alabama’s capital. 

Despite the legality of cannabis now entering its fourth year, patients are still not gaining access. Similar lawsuits against the commission are challenging its hesitancy to distribute licenses for dispensaries in the state. The award process has been mired in controversy due to a scoring system that plaintiffs argue is arbitrary and riddled with errors. 

Under the law, Alabama is required to establish a patient database and work toward making medical marijuana available, but the lawsuits claim that simply isn’t happening at an acceptable pace. The law requiring the database and establishing steps toward distribution went into effect on Sept. 1, 2022. 

According to existing regulations, the database is supposed to give the public access to a list of providers in addition to maintaining records on medical marijuana card holders. However, the regulatory agency still lists it as “under development” and says it is “not registering patients or caregivers at this time.”