AMCC License Saga — 5 Years, 3 Voided Rounds & Extensive Litigation

Last verified: May 2026

The Compassion-Act Implementation Timeline

Round 1 — June 12, 2023 (Voided June 16, 2023)

The first license-award round occurred on June 12, 2023. The AMCC awarded 21 licenses across cultivator, processor, transporter, lab, dispensary, and integrated-facility categories. Verano Alabama LLC — an affiliate of multistate operator Verano Holdings Corp. — top-scored the integrated-facility category. Within 4 days, on June 16, 2023, the commission voided all awards, citing "potential inconsistencies" in the scoring data. The University of South Alabama’s Mitchell Center had administered the scoring on behalf of AMCC; the inconsistencies were never publicly itemized.

Round 2 — August 10, 2023 (Voided)

The August 10, 2023 second-round awards excluded Verano despite Verano’s having remained the highest-scoring integrated applicant. Verano + Alabama Always (a separately-organized integrated-applicant entity, with attorney William Somerville as counsel) sued. The commission rescinded the awards a second time. The pattern of award → lawsuit → rescission produced the suspicion that AMCC was struggling either with internal scoring methodology or with the transparency/integrity of its process.

Round 3 — December 1 / December 12, 2023 (Stayed and Later Voided)

In October 2023, AMCC adopted an "emergency rule" without notice-and-comment to set up Round 3. The December 1 / December 12, 2023 awards distributed integrated licenses to Trulieve (a multistate operator that had been ranked 12th, controversially as a "minority" applicant), Sustainable Alabama, Wagon Trail Med-Serv, Flowerwood, and Specialty Medical Products. Substantial bidders — Jemmstone, Insa, Bragg Canna, TheraTrue — were left out.

The exclusion of higher-ranked bidders in favor of an MSO ranked 12th, classified as "minority" under criteria the bidders disputed, produced the most aggressive litigation phase. Multiple lawsuits flooded Montgomery County Circuit Court.

Judge James Anderson’s January 2024 TRO

In January 2024, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge James Anderson issued a temporary restraining order in Alabama Always v. AMCC, blocking issuance of integrated and dispensary licenses. The TRO froze the program for nearly two years.

Anderson’s ruling rested on procedural irregularities: AMCC’s Round 3 emergency rule had not gone through Alabama Administrative Procedure Act (AAPA) notice-and-comment; AMCC had documented Open Meetings Act violations in adopting it; and the scoring methodology produced inconsistent rankings across rounds.

March 7, 2025 — Alabama Court of Civil Appeals Vacates the TRO

The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals vacated Anderson’s TRO on March 7, 2025, holding that the circuit court lacked jurisdiction because Alabama Always had not exhausted administrative remedies before filing. The ruling allowed AMCC to proceed but did not directly resolve the underlying scoring or process issues.

April 21, 2025 — Anderson Rules the Emergency Rule Void

In Jemmstone / Bragg Canna / Insa v. AMCC, Judge Anderson ruled on April 21, 2025 that AMCC’s October 2023 emergency rule was void because the commission’s litigation pressure did not constitute a "legal emergency" under AAPA. Anderson wrote: "An agency’s being embroiled in ongoing litigation is simply not a legal emergency, and no authority suggests so." The ruling invalidated the December 2023 integrated awards.

May 13, 2025 — Federal-Court Escalation

Alabama Always escalated to federal court on May 13, 2025, filing a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 First Amendment / Fourteenth Amendment retaliation suit against AMCC commissioners individually in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. Alabama Always board member Ben McNeil told reporters that the commission "made it clear that they are offended by our lawsuits."

May 2025 — SB 72 Fails

In May 2025, Sen. Tim Melson introduced SB 72, which would have scrapped the existing AMCC license awards entirely, expanded integrated facilities from 5 to 7, hired an outside consultant, and shielded the next round from judicial review. The bill faced strong opposition from existing licensees and from constitutional lawyers who warned the judicial-review shield would not survive challenge. It died.

Mid-2025 — ALJ Bernard Harwood Appointed

Mid-2025 brought an institutional change: AMCC retained Bernard Harwood, a former Alabama Supreme Court justice, as administrative law judge for the dispensary investigative hearings. Harwood’s appointment was widely interpreted as a signal that AMCC was prepared to accept neutral adjudication of the disputes that had paralyzed earlier rounds.

Nov–Dec 2025 — Harwood’s 106-Page Dispensary Ruling

Over approximately seven weeks of testimony in late 2025, Harwood produced a 106-page ruling that identified four suitable dispensary applicants. The ruling was adopted by AMCC on December 11, 2025.

December 11, 2025 — Three Dispensary Licenses Awarded; One Stayed

AMCC awarded three dispensary licenses on December 11, 2025:

• GP6 Wellness — $40,000 fee, 28-day issuance window.
• RJK Holdings AL — $40,000 fee, 28-day issuance window.
• CCS of Alabama — $40,000 fee, 28-day issuance window.
• Yellowhammer Medical Dispensaries — license stayed pending Capitol Medical’s ongoing administrative challenge.

The three issued licenses were formally issued on January 8, 2026.

March 2026 — Examiners Audit Released

The Alabama Department of Examiners released its audit of AMCC for the period May 17, 2021 through September 30, 2025 in late March 2026. The findings:

• 62 Open Meetings Act violations reviewed.
• $204,197.55 in overpayment on legal services.
• Failure to adopt an AAPA-compliant fee schedule.
• Failure to obtain a Records Disposition Authority for four years.
• An AMCC rule on lost cards conflicting with statute.

The audit confirmed many of the procedural concerns that had animated the litigation and provided a roadmap for legislative reform.

April–May 2026 — Callie’s Apothecary Opens

On April 9, 2026, AMCC Chair Dr. Sam Blakemore announced that Callie’s Apothecary — the Montgomery dispensary operated by RJK Holdings AL — would open on May 4, 2026. Blakemore (himself a pharmacist) said the visit "put me at home; it reminded me of being back at a pharmacy."

On May 4, 2026, Callie’s opened — nearly five years to the day after the Compassion Act was enacted.

The Integrated-Facility Category — Still Open

As of May 2026, the 5 integrated-facility licenses remain in administrative-hearing review under ALJ Harwood. The integrated category — which combines cultivation, processing, transport, and retail in one operator with up to 5 storefronts — would dramatically expand patient access if licenses are issued. Verano, Trulieve, Sustainable Alabama, Wagon Trail, Flowerwood, Specialty Medical, Capitol Medical, and other applicants remain in the queue.