Judge orders massive mediation session to try and resolve multiple Ala. Cannabis Commission lawsuits

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – The judge overseeing multiple lawsuits against the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) surrounding the commissions’ two failed attempts to issue licenses has ordered all plaintiffs and the commission into a forced mediation session next Monday, Nov. 20, to try and resolve the months-long legal disputes. One participant described the hastily-scheduled session as a “Hail Mary” attempt to resolve multiple controversies over flaws in the Commission’s licensing process in time for the Commission to attempt using a new and aggressive timeline for issuing licenses by the end of the year.

The AMCC now plans to allow applicants for all categories of medical cannabis licenses to make presentations to the commission about their qualifications, a concession multiple applicants have been requesting for months, in an effort to meet and issue its third attempt at licensing on Dec. 12.

But the AMCC is also allowing commissioners to continue considering scoring of applications done by evaluators hired by the University of South Alabama, a process that initiated the months-long controversy when the AMCC staff discovered “mathematical errors” in the scoring used to award the first round of licenses in late June. The AMCC was forced to rescind those licenses in a matter of days, starting a legal battle that now includes multiple lawsuits and controversy about the entire medical cannabis process in Alabama.

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