The Alabama Department of Public Health on Thursday unanimously withdrew its objection to federally rescheduling medical cannabis, the Alabama Reflector reports.
The announcement follows a July public hearing that was scheduled to discuss the impact of rescheduling. Health officials had previously voted to delay rescheduling, giving time to consider what would change under the reforms.
State Health Office Dr. Scott Harris said in the report that there were many “really passionate people” with “really strong feelings” about medical cannabis, but the focus was not on the question of rescheduling.
“The [public comments] were people who really support medical marijuana or who really don’t support medical marijuana. The comments weren’t really about what we were trying to get at, which (was) ‘what are the consequences of rescheduling.’” — Harris, via the Reflector
However, Harris noted that even with cannabis still strictly Schedule I under state law, the medical cannabis program has proceeded unhindered, as “the statute was written essentially to decriminalize it for people who are authorized to have it.”
Alabama’s first medical cannabis dispensary opened in Montgomery in May of this year.
Lawmakers passed the state’s medical cannabis reforms in 2021, but lawsuits hindered the program’s launch.
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