Local applicant likes chances of getting medical marijuana license

Jan. 4—Decatur is in contention for a medical marijuana dispensary following the first deadline in the state licensing process.

Joey Robertson, Hanceville-based president and partner of Wagon Trail Med-Serv, said he submitted one of the 38 integrated facility license applications that the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission received by Friday's deadline. Five integrated licenses will be awarded June 12, and each license recipient can have five dispensaries.

Robertson said he's optimistic he'll get strong consideration for a license and would put a dispensary in Decatur at a U.S. 31 location approved last week by the City Council.

"Chances are 1 in 7 1/2 that we will be awarded one," he said of licenses. "I feel solid about it. I like our chances. We have experience, the infrastructure. We're in good standing across the state with our hemp business. We have a solid reputation."

Robertson, who received council approval Dec. 27 to set up a 2,000-square-foot medical marijuana pharmacy-style building adjacent to Avalon Cove Townhomes at 3610 U.S. 31 S., said an integrated license offers his company more control of its overall costs.

"It's the most coveted license," he said. "It allows you to control your business operations from start to finish. It allows you to control your internal fixed costs and is a more sustainable business model."

Council approved Decatur dispensary sites for three other potential operators, but none of them could be reached Tuesday to determine if they submitted applications and a $2,500 nonrefundable fee by the deadline. The commission won't release the names of the companies applying for licenses until April 13, according to its website.

Robertson said his application totaled roughly 1,500 pages covering "everything from buildout of the facility, future drawings, a three-year business plan showing finances are available, a $2 million performance bond, tax, transportation and security plans."

"We have to show how we are going to produce the product, how it is going to be transported, how it is going to be sold," he added.

He said he expects some applicants will have the opportunity to amend their applications.

"The state may return some, so it can be formatted properly, clarify and correct some answers," he said. "We'll continue to educate the public on what to expect. Erase the stigma attached to the industry."

The other three sites OK'd in Decatur were in the Mallard Village shopping center at the corner of Alabama 67 and Indian Hills Road, along Beltline Road Southwest near the former Books-A-Million store and along U.S. 31 South behind a mobile home parts store.

Robertson said he has four other sites in the state selected for dispensaries, but is not ready to disclose the locations.

With each of the five integrated license holders eligible to open five dispensaries, that could produce up to 25 dispensaries. Another 12 dispensaries could be opened by the four recipients of dispensary licenses, who could each open four locations.

Under Alabama's 2021 medical marijuana law, the commission also may award up to 12 cultivator licenses and four processor licenses. The law did not specify how many secure transport and state testing laboratory licenses can be awarded.

Upon Friday's deadline, the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission said it had received 94 applications for medical marijuana business licenses. They included 12 applications for cultivator licenses, 12 for processors, 18 for dispensary, 11 for secure transporter, three for state testing laboratory and the 38 for integrated facility licenses.

The commission is scheduled to award licenses in each license category at its June meeting. Once the business licenses have been issued, physicians may begin the certification process to recommend medical cannabis to qualified patients.

The commission has partnered with the University of South Alabama on the application evaluation process. According to a statement, university researchers will review, evaluate and score business applications.

"The Commission spent much of 2022 laying the groundwork for Alabama's medical cannabis industry by drafting rules and regulations, obtaining software tracking systems, and developing the business applications," Commission Director John McMillan said in a statement. "We are excited to utilize the strong framework we put together to implement a safe and operational medical cannabis industry as we move into 2023."

Robertson said, if issued a license in June, he plans to start construction on a Decatur dispensary building by mid-July.

Wagon Trail currently has about 10 employees at its base in Cullman County, Robertson said.

"We'll be using five to seven people per shift from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week (at the dispensary)," he said. "The facility will be similar to a Walgreens pharmacy where you can go in and fill your prescription. ... A dispensary will be a site people will seek out. It doesn't have to be on a corner like a McDonald's to be visually seen and attract people. If you have solid location that is going to be safe and clean and you have a good reputation as a company, it will attract people more so than any advertising would."

McMillan said the state could generate about $200 million per year in revenue off medical cannabis.

Robertson said the products will be dispensed in different forms including peach-flavored sugarless gummies, lozenges, pain patches, capsules, tablets, suppositories and through nebulizing inhalers.

Medicinal marijuana could be used to help patients with cancer, epilepsy, Crohn's disease; depression; HIV/AIDS-related nausea or weight loss; panic disorder; Parkinson's disease; persistent nausea; post-traumatic stress disorder; sickle cell anemia; spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury; Tourette syndrome; a terminal illness; or conditions causing chronic or intractable pain, according to the AMCC website.

— mike.wetzel@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2442. Twitter @DD_Wetzel.