John SchroyerThe Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission on Monday handed out its first round of 21 license winners from a pool of 90 applicants, setting the stage for the American South’s latest entrant into the marijuana industry.
According to ABC 33/40 News, the commission handed out the maximum number of dispensary, processor, and “integrated facility” business permits, but only a third of the possible cultivation licenses, just three secure transporters, and a lone testing lab.
Under state law, the commission is permitted to authorize up to 12 MMJ growers, but on Monday awarded just four such licenses.
The integrated facility license winners include:
- Flowerwood Medical Cannabis LLC
- Southeast Cannabis Company LLC
- Sustainable Alabama LLC
- TheraTrue Alabama LLC
- Verano Alabama LLC
Cultivator licenses went to:
- Blackberry Farms LLC
- Gulf Shore Remedies LLC
- Pure by Sirmon Farms LLC
- Twisted Herb Cultivation LLC
Processor licenses were awarded to:
- 1819 Labs LLC
- Enchanted Green LLC
- Jasper Development Group
- Organic Harvest Lab LLC
Dispensary license winners:
- CCS of Alabama LLC
- RJK Holdings AL LLC
- Statewide Property Holdings AL LLC
- Yellowhammer Medical Dispensaries LLC
Secure transport licensees:
- Alabama Secure Transport LLC
- International Communication LLC
- Tyler Van Lines LLC
The lone Alabama state testing lab license went to Certus Laboratories.
The winners have 14 days to submit the necessary fees and paperwork to have their permits activated, and the commission is slated to give final approval to each at its next meeting on July 10, ABC 33/40 News reported.
The commission also will have a second licensing round for more cultivation, transportation, and lab testing permits, but when that will be is yet unclear.
A spokesman for the commission previously told the Alabama Daily News that regulators expect delays in the market launch due to the likelihood of litigation from license applicants who didn’t win permits.
But one of the multistate operators that landed one of the Alabama permits was ready to celebrate anyway. Chicago-based Verano Holdings CEO George Archos said in a press release that he was “thrilled” his company won one of the vertically integrated permits, which will let the MSO stand up cultivation, manufacturing, and retail facilities in Alabama.
“With the addition of Alabama to our footprint, we have an excellent opportunity to increase our presence in an important medical market as cannabis acceptance and state-level programs continue to spread across the growing Southeast region,” Archos said in a press release.
