New Year’s Day in Alabama included a new law that restricts one use of marijuana while, at the same time, the state is preparing to license medical use of cannabis. HB 445 makes the sale or possession of consumable hemp products a class C felony, which is punishable by fines up to $15,000 and one to ten years in prison.
Observers say ABC and local law enforcement are expected to enforce HB 445 quickly. Just before the effective date of HB 445 in July, law enforcement conducted broad, state-wide sweeps of hemp operators, which, in some cases, resulted in the confiscation of up to 60 pounds of consumable marijuana products. APR News spoke with Morgan Fox before HB- 445 went into effect. He’s political director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML.) He says the new law points out more of a problem than a solution.
“The problem is that there's zero regulatory oversight for these particular products, and that creates potential problems for consumers, both in terms of public health and safety, but also things like a total lack of age gating and easy availability in gas stations or online,” he said.
As APR news previously reported, the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission approved licenses for dispensaries last month a key step to making medical marijuana available in the state after years of delay.
Commission Chairman Rex Vaughn estimated the products will be available in the spring of 2026. The state’s medical marijuana program has been delayed by false starts and litigation over who should hold the licenses to sell and grow cannabis
“It’s a pivotal day for us. There is no doubt. We’ve been waiting for this day for a long time,” Vaughn said in December.
The commission approved licenses for three dispensary companies. The commission in the coming weeks will consider the license for a fourth dispensary. Each company can operate three storefronts across the state. The next step will be to get interested physicians certified to issue cannabis cards to patients and to establish a patient registry, Vaughn said.
The day was a long time coming for Amanda Taylor, who has advocated for years for Alabama to begin a medical marijuana program. She used medical cannabis to relieve the symptoms of her multiple sclerosis when she lived in Arizona. Taylor was present when Gov Kay Ivey signed the legislation to authorize the program.
“I’m absolutely elated today because we are on the cusp of having a working program,” Taylor said. Taylor said as a well-known patient advocate that she has people “continually” asking about the availability of medical marijuana in the state.
Alabama lawmakers in 2021 approved a medical cannabis program after years of resistance and skepticism from lawmakers in the Deep South state. The program had a number of false starts, including accusations of improper scoring and secret deliberations. License awards have held up by litigation.
Most states have medical marijuana programs and nearly half allow recreational use. Twenty-four states have legalized recreational marijuana, and 40 states allow the medical use of cannabis products, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The commission has now issued licenses to cultivators, processors and dispensaries. However, licenses have not been issued for five integrated “seed-to-sale” licenses where companies grow, process and operate their own dispensaries. The fight over the integrated licenses has spun multiple lawsuits.
The integrated license holders can operate five dispensary storefronts. When the commission awards those licenses, it should boost the number of dispensary sites across the state from 12 to 37. The holders of cultivator licenses have already been harvesting marijuana Vaughn said. Now, they have to get that product to processors, he said.
“It should not have taken this long. Absolutely, it should not have,” Vaughn said. “But realistically, I knew in the back of my mind, based on what other states have encountered, that, that we were not out of the ordinary.”
