A medical cannabis reform bill introduced yesterday by two State Senators was met with opposition and frustration during a Senate Agriculture committee meeting on Wednesday.

The committee held a public hearing and concluded without a vote on the bill. The hearing drew enough attention to fill the committee room itself and an overflow room — yet was not broadcast to the Alabama Legislature’s website for reasons that are currently unclear. 

Introduced by State Sens. David Sessions (R-Grand Bay) and Tim Melson (R-Florence), SB276 would remake Alabama’s medical cannabis market, which has yet to get off the ground due to an injunction imposed by the Montgomery Circuit Court. 

The sponsors and supporters of the bill hope it could break the litigation logjam, but critics during the committee hearing argued that the proposed cure is worse than the disease because of the drastic increase in the number of available business licenses. 

RELATED: Alabama’s medical cannabis industry faces continued delay from unsuccessful applicants

The proposal would triple the number of Integrated Facility licenses available under state law from five to 15.

Speakers warned that the proposed expansion of an intrastate market would turn into the “wild west” and put Alabama in line with states whose markets have failed.

The lone supporter of the idea at the meeting was an unsuccessful applicant, Southeast Cannabis Company. Patrick Dungan, a lawyer for the company, said “absent a legislative solution like [SB276], it could take years to unravel these problems.” 

The Medical Cannabis Commission has been tied up in lawsuits brought by unsuccessful license applicants since June 2023 when the Commission first attempted to award licenses in all categories. With the exception of Tennessee, all of Alabama’s neighboring states have medical cannabis programs up and running.

Grayson Everett is the state and political editor for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @Grayson270