“We’re not saying Alabama won’t do this. We’re definitely going to do this, but if you get it without objection, it’s scheduled right away.”
By Anna Barrett, Alabama Reflector
The governing body of the Alabama Department of Public Health voted Thursday against the federal rescheduling of marijuana, saying state health officials needed more time to determine how to implement it.
Dr. Scott Harris, Alabama’s top health official, told members of the state’s Public Health Commission that the state has “full intent” to implement the change.
“We’re not saying Alabama won’t do this,” Harris told the committee. “We’ll certainly do this, but if you get it without objection, it’s scheduled immediately. If you do nothing, it’s scheduled within 30 days. I’m going to ask you to take the third option, which is to oppose it. Then we just have a little time to figure this out with all our other stakeholders.”
The committee’s vote was unanimous. Brian Hale, ADPH’s legal director, said the objection would be open to public comment during the meeting. This period would last 30 to 60 days.
“The objection is simply to allow more time for input on the implications of this rescheduling,” Hale said. “There will be a public hearing, we’ll see the comments that way, and then we’ll talk to other stakeholders, licensing boards and others who might be affected to see what their input might be.”
In April, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) moved marijuana from Schedule I — the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) list of drugs with the least amount of abuse and legal use — to Schedule III, which, according to the DEA, drugs have a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence. The order followed an executive order President Donald Trump signed in December to keep the DOJ on track to reschedule.
Former President Joe Biden ordered the DOJ to reschedule the drug in 2024, but hearings on the move were canceled in early 2025.
The federal mandate applies to medical marijuana products in states that allow the use of the drug. The move means those businesses can deduct business expenses from federal taxes and investigators have access to legal products in the state. As a Schedule I drug, only cannabis grown in a federal facility could be researched, greatly limiting the supply available to researchers.
Alabama has a medical cannabis program approved by the Legislature in 2021. A Montgomery The dispensary said last week it hopes to make medical marijuana available to patients soon. A message seeking comment from Vince Schillec, the dispensary’s owner, was left Thursday afternoon.
Harris said the reconsideration would not violate state law, but after speaking with the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC), he was unsure how the reconsideration would affect the program.
“We’ve worked very hard to try to figure out what the ramifications of this are. There are a number of things that don’t completely conflict with state laws or other regulations, but they require some thought as to how to implement them,” Harris said.
Justin Aday, AMCC’s general counsel, said in a telephone interview that the commission does not foresee any immediate impact from the federal reorganization or a delay in the reorganization at the state level.
“We certainly understand the commission and the desire to gather additional information about the implications of the federal reorganization and what the implications would be, depending on how medical cannabis is scheduled at the state level,” Aday said. “We will certainly participate in that process as necessary, and we will provide all the information we can.”
This story was first published by the Alabama Reflector.