The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission will ask state lawmakers to revise the law passed earlier this year in an effort to get plants in the ground sooner so that products could be available next year.
The bill the Legislature passed in May set up the 14-member commission to oversee an agency that will license and regulate cultivators, processors, secure transporters, testing laboratories and dispensaries of medical marijuana products. It will be a seed-to-sale intrastate program, with products made from plants grown in Alabama.
The law sets the date of Sept. 1, 2022 when people can begin applying for licenses. Commission Vice Chair Rex Vaughn said he has been in discussions with lawmakers about changing the date to allow cultivators to be licensed sooner, by no later than early 2022.
The time required to grow the plants, which will be raised in greenhouses, is 90 to 110 days. Unless the Sept. 1, 2022 date is changed, products could not be available until some time in 2023, Vaughn said.
Read more at al.com