MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission voted Aug. 10 to issue more medical cannabis licenses and retract a few after rescoring and reassessing 90 applications.

The vote comes after the commission on June 12 moved to award 21 medical cannabis business licenses, but soon after issued a pause on the licenses granted as commission officials became aware of potential inconsistencies in scoring applications.

The University of South Alabama had partnered with the Commission to recruit evaluators to assess and score the applications earlier this year; According to an AMCC press release, USA used 66 evaluators, with experience relevant to the application content, to review one of eight scoring categories: Financial Ability; Business/Management Approach; Operations Plans & Procedures; Facility Suitability & Infrastructure; Security Plan; Personnel; Quality Control & Testing; or Marketing & Advertising.

Commission chairman Rex Vaughn, who was elected to the role at the start of the Aug. 10 meeting, said each commission member would submit individual nominations for each category of licenses during a vote to reissue approvals.

The commission, he said, has had full access to all applications since late March, and has had access had to the recalculated scores and evaluator qualifications, background checks and other related documents.

“Our rules are clear that the commission remains the primary decision maker with regard to the licensing and has authority to act independently of any third party evaluation and their recommendation,” Vaugh said. “This means that the commission has discretion to act consistently with such evaluation and recommendations.”

Kristin Roberts, chief financial officer for the University of South Alabama, said USA accountant and independent accountants from KPMG — a global network of firms providing audit, tax and advisory services — compared the recalculated scores to those previously submitted to the commission to check for variances.

“Through the scoping phase that KPMG did in those agreed upon procedures, it was noted that both KPMG, and both internal recalculations, identified the same variances. So, we feel very confident we have identified all errors.”

Roberts said the errors generally stemmed from human mistakes among the 66 evaluators, which included miskeying data and data entry errors.

The offsetting error in which an evaluator entered his or her scorecard twice in the integrated facility category caused a trickle down effect on subsequently ranked facilities in the category.

Another error identified came from pulling data for the processor license panel, as it was exporting that evaluator ID rather than the application ID, which caused scores from different applicants — rather than different evaluators — to be averaged together.

“I want to emphasize that all of these variances were corrected by the University of South Alabama and have been independently verified by KPMG; and we have full confidence in the data set that has been provided to the commission,” Roberts said.

Commission member Sam Blakemore, a pharmacist, said the commissions’s selections for dispensary licenses each have involvement with pharmacies.

“The pharmacists are the drug experts and they can ensure appropriate workflow at medical cannabis dispensaries,” Blakemore said. “Good workflow prevents drug errors. Good workflow ensures appropriate operational management to ensure patient safety. At our very core, we must ensure the safety of the citizens of Alabama. … While pharmacists involvement was not mandatory, it certainly makes me feel better to see my profession stepped up to the plate.”

In 2021, Alabama became the 37th state to legalize medical marijuana, allowing certain illnesses and conditions to be treated with the medication through pill form, capsules, creams, oil and other forms. Most patients will be allowed as much as 50 mg of legal cannabis per day, and after a few months a physician would be able to increase the dosage if necessary. THC is the main ingredient for cannabis.

Under the rules promulgated by the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners, physicians can begin the certification process to recommend medical cannabis to patients after business licenses have been issued, according to the commission. For a patient to qualify for medical cannabis, the patient must have at least one of the qualifying conditions and be recommended for medical cannabis by a certified physician.

The following companies were nominated for medical cannabis licenses by the commission:

Dispensary licenses (up to four allowed, 18 applicants)

• Yellowhammer Medical Dispensaries, LLC
• CCS of Alabama, LLC
• RJK Holdings AL, LLC
• Statewide Property Holdings, LLC

These four listed companies were the same companies selected for processor licenses by the Commission at its June 12 meeting.

Cultivator licenses (up to 12 allowed, 12 applicants)

• Gulf Shore Remedies, LLC
• Pure by Sirmon Farms, LLC
• Blackbery Farms, LLC
• Twisted Herb Cultivation, LLC
• I AM FARMS
• Greenway Botanicals, LLC
• CRC OF Alabama, LLC

The first four listed companies were also voted on by the commission at its June 12 meeting; the latter three companies were added to awarded cultivator licensees by the commission Aug. 10.

Processor licenses (only four allowed, 11 applicants)

• Enchanted Green, LLC
• 1819 Labs, LLC
• Organic Harvest Lab, LLC
• Jasper Development Group Inc.

All four listed companies were the same companies selected for processor licenses by the Commission at its June 12 meeting.

Secure transporter licenses (unlimited number allowed, nine applicants)

• Tyler Van Lines, LLC
• International Communication, LLC
• XLCR Inc.

XLCR Inc. was not initially selected during the commission’s initially vote June 12, but was selected in the commission’s updated vote for licenses Aug. 10; Alabama Secure Transport, LLC was, however, selected June 12, but the commission did not select the company Aug. 10.

State testing laboratory licenses (unlimited number of licenses allowed, two applicants)

• Certus Laboratories

Integrated facility licenses (up to five allowed, 38 applicants)

• Insa Alabama, LLC
• Flowerwood Medical Cannabis, LLC
• Southeast Cannabis Company, LLC
• Sustainable Alabama, LLC
• TheraTrue Alabama

The commission initially voted at its June 12 meeting to award include Verano Alabama, LLC as an integrated facility licensee, but retracted that vote Aug. 10.

Vaughn said more medical cannabis licenses could be issued at a later date based on future reevaluations.

“So those of you who have not received a license today, don’t lose heart. There may be another day,” he said.

Within in 14 days, applicants who were awarded a license will need to pay license fee, according Justin Aday, general counsel for the commission. Applicants who were denied a license will be able to request an investigative hearing by Aug. 24.

Attendees of the commission meeting could be heard stating that lawsuits would likely be forthcoming due to the denial of majority of the license applications.

After the June 12 vote to award licenses, several loosing applicants had filed a lawsuit alleging the commission failed to use its own judgment in choosing licenses. A separate lawsuit against former chair Steven Stokes, who recently resigned, challenged his eligibly to serve on the commission as he was also serving as trustee for the University of South Alabama.

The commission’s next meeting is Aug. 31 at 1 p.m.