Oliver Washington won one of Alabama’s five coveted medical marijuana licenses in June, but it's unclear when the fourth generation nursery owner will be able to put his horticultural skills to use for Alabama’s medical marijuana program. | Courtesy of Shore Acres Plant FarmFor months, Oliver Washington has been experiencing a kind of bureaucratic whiplash unique to entrepreneurs in nascent marijuana markets.
That only sparked more litigation, and a court order has prevented the agency from issuing the licenses awarded in that round. The agency passed emergency rules last week in hopes of getting licenses out by the end of the year. But some applicants fear it will merely invite even more litigation. Ball, a former cop, did a 180 on the issue after receiving an email from a woman whose granddaughter experienced relief from epileptic seizures with cannabis oil. When he first introduced cannabis legislation, Ball recalled, other lawmakers reacted as if “I was unleashing potheads, having them running naked in the streets.”
Washington ultimately decided to collaborate with Chuck Smith, an industry veteran who co-founded Dixie Elixirs in Colorado in 2009. Smith introduced Washington to Vicente, a lawyer who helped draft Colorado’s legalization initiative that passed in 2012 and co-founded a cannabis-focused law firm. Some businesses, however, question whether the lawsuits are raising legitimate legal concerns. They’re concerned that some litigants are following a familiar playbook of challenging licensing decisions in hopes of eventually winning a license.