Montgomery Circuit Judge James Anderson issued a temporary restraining order Thursday to put the medical cannabis licensing process on hold while it is determined whether the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission violated the Open Meetings Act.
After a two-month delay caused in part by significant errors in the scoring process of applicants, the commission met on Aug. 10 to re-award licenses to applicants in all categories.
Much of that meeting was spent in executive session, where each commission member filled out a secret ballot to select their preferred nominees. Those ballots were then collated in private to rank nominees in preferential order, and only those “nominees” were discussed and voted on in an open meeting.
Plaintiffs argued in court Thursday that the nomination process amounted to a vote, at least to eliminate certain applicants from the proceedings.
“The secret ballot essentially determined who would get a license,” said attorney Wallace Mills.
AMCC…
Cannabis licenses on hold as court weighs claim of Open Meetings Act … , Jacob Holmes , 2023-08-18 12:01:12 , Alabama Political Reporter , , [rule_{ruleNumber}] , [rule_{ruleNumber}_plain] , https://www.alreporter.com/2023/08/18/cannabis-licenses-on-hold-as-court-weighs-claim-of-open-meetings-act-violation/ , https://www.alreporter.com/2023/08/18/cannabis-licenses-on-hold-as-court-weighs-claim-of-open-meetings-act-violation/ , www.alreporter.com , https%3A%2F%2Fwww.alreporter.com%2F2023%2F08%2F18%2Fcannabis-licenses-on-hold-as-court-weighs-claim-of-open-meetings-act-violation%2F , Courts,Alabama Medical Cannabis,AMCC,cannabis,licenses,Medical Marijuana,Open Meetings Act,violation, #Cannabis #licenses #hold #court #weighs #claim #Open #Meetings #Act
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