Alabama is currently preparing to roll out its medical cannabis program. While the progress may leave residents wondering when the state will usher in recreational cannabis, it’s looking like they might have a lengthy wait.
On Tuesday, Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) told reporters that the state is “many years away” from considering recreational cannabis policy, specifically, “We are at least four years from that,” he said, according to an AL.com report. Ledbetter added that four years is the duration of his term as the leader of the Alabama House. His current term ends Nov. 6, 2026.
The state doesn’t allow citizen initiatives, so the only way to legalize recreational cannabis would be through the Legislature’s approval. Alabama also has a GOP-heavy system, with Republicans in control of the governorship and both legislative chambers.
Ledbetter’s comments are perhaps unsurprising, given the climate after Alabama first legalized medicinal cannabis in 2021. At the time, Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies with Marijuana Policy Project, said, “We don’t see Alabama’s vote as sending any message on legalizing for non-medical purposes. Lawmakers—and the bill itself—made it clear that this bill is only about medical cannabis for the seriously ill.”
Joe Godfrey, executive director with the Alabama Citizens Action Program, which opposes medical cannabis, said he conversely believes the state’s medical cannabis program is meant to be a gateway to recreational legalization.
“Recreational marijuana will be next in the agenda for the big companies pushing this nationwide,” he said, ridiculing the word “medical” in regard to cannabis and comparing it to Granny from The Beverly HIllbillies, who referred to moonshine as medicine.
“It’s still moonshine,” Godfrey said. “This is still marijuana.”
Under Alabama’s medical cannabis law, doctors with medical cannabis training are able to recommend products for qualifying conditions including autism spectrum disorder, cancer-related pain such as weight loss and vomiting, Crohn’s Disease, depression, epilepsy or conditions causing seizures, HIV/AIDs-related nausea and weight loss, panic disorder, Parkinson’s Disease, persistent nausea, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sickle cell anemia, spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis or spinal injury, Tourette’s Syndrome, a terminal illness and conditions causing chronic or intractable pain.
Ledbetter also said that he anticipates “tweaks” to the medical cannabis program over the next two months. The state commission is currently reviewing 90 applications from companies looking to cultivate, transport, process, test and dispense medical cannabis. The program is expected to begin sometime in early 2024.
One such tweak, Rep. David Cole, R-Madison, introduced a bill, HB227, which deems that cancer-related conditions must be diagnosed by an oncologist and include documentation that conventional treatment has failed. The bill also states that those with Crohn’s disease would require a diagnosis by a gastroenterologist after documenting that conventional medical treatments have failed for three years.
The bill includes a number of other specifics that don’t appear in the initial bill, similarly deeming that those with depression, persistent nausea and Parkinson’s disease must show conventional treatment methods had failed for three years before they are eligible for medical cannabis. The bill would also remove PTSD from the list of eligible conditions for medical cannabis, only allowing it after conventional treatments fail for three years.
The law also specifically forbids smoking medical cannabis or using it in edibles. It will be offered through tablets, capsules, gelatins, oils, gels, creams, suppositories, transdermal patches, and inhalable oils or liquids.
According to the Montgomery Advisor, most patients will be allowed up to 50 mg of medical cannabis per day, and after three months, a physician is permitted to bump the dosage up to 75 mg. Those with terminal illnesses will not have a medical cannabis cap.
