John SchroyerThere’s plenty of interest in the Alabama medical marijuana market from would-be cannabis entrepreneurs.
According to AL.com, the state received 179 requests for medical cannabis business license applications within the first six days the process was open.
That could set up a hotly contested licensing round among potentially hundreds of businesses for just 25 permits, which the state will issue next summer.
The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission opened the license request window on Sept. 1, and it’ll remain open until Oct. 17.
This phase only allowed companies to formally request applications. Actual applications will be sent out to stakeholders beginning Oct. 24 and aren’t due back to the commission until Dec. 31, AL.com reported.
The state will ultimately issue the following licenses:
- 12 cultivator permits
- Four processor licenses
- Four dispensary permits
- Five permits for vertically integrated facilities
The dispensary and vertically integrated permits will allow for multiple retail locations, for a statewide total of 37 stores, AL.com reported.
The market – like many in the South – will initially be very limited, with sales of smokable cannabis flower still prohibited. The only types of medical marijuana products allowed to be sold will be oral tablets, capsules, tinctures, vaporizable oils and liquids, and the like.
Sales are not expected to begin until 2024.
