.png)
Alabama Cannabis Coalition Responds to Limited Dispensary Licenses: “4.5 Years Later, This Is Not Access — It’s a Cartel.”
- H Marty Schelper
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Alabama Cannabis Coalition
December 12, 2025
Alabama Cannabis Coalition Responds to Limited Dispensary Licenses:
“4.5 Years Later, This Is Not Access — It’s a Cartel.”
Montgomery, Alabama – The Alabama Cannabis Coalition (ACC) is calling out the State of Alabama’s failed approach to “medical” cannabis as the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission moves to award only twelve dispensary licenses statewide—more than four and a half years after the passage of SB46 in 2021.
For thirteen years, the Alabama Cannabis Coalition has advocated for the sick, suffering, and dying citizens of Alabama to have truly “legal” access to “medical” Cannabis. During that time, the Coalition has consistently defended citizens’ rights and freedoms to access this medicine safely and without criminalization.
“While some may see today’s announcement as progress, we see it as a deeply immoral reminder of how our state has failed its people,” said H Marty Schelper, Founder and President of the Alabama Cannabis Coalition. “It should never have taken 4.5 years to even get to this point—and twelve dispensaries in a state with 67 counties is an abysmal excuse for access.”
Even with today’s step forward, the Coalition stresses that the situation remains unacceptable. ACC recognizes that if the ‘integrated license holders’ are eventually permitted to proceed, additional dispensaries will become available—but that is far too little, far too late. Citizens who have waited years for relief should never have been denied access in the first place.
When SB46 was finally passed on May 6, 2021—after Governor Kay Ivey insisted on a “study commission” to determine if “medical” Cannabis was even needed—ACC and allied advocates warned that the legislation eliminated any chance of a true free market. Instead, it created what they describe as a state-sanctioned “legal” medical Cannabis cartel.
“What we have witnessed over the past 4.5 years is a travesty,” Schelper continued. “When government intervenes in markets by tightly controlling licenses, eliminating competition, and handpicking winners and losers, this is exactly what you get: delayed implementation, inflated prices, and citizens left behind.”
In 2019, a delegation from Alabama Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition (ARAMP), led by Schelper, met with Senator Tim Melson and Representative Mike Ball to raise concerns about SB46—specifically the extremely limited product availability and the absence of free-market principles. While the delegation appreciated the opportunity to be heard, it became clear that the framework of control and overregulation was already set.
“We walked away from that meeting knowing their minds were made up,” said Schelper. “Control and regulation—not patient access—were the driving forces.”
As Alabama moves into 2026, the Alabama Cannabis Coalition emphasizes that while businesses deserve the opportunity to make a profit, citizens equally deserve meaningful, affordable access to Cannabis.
“Free markets would have solved 95% of the problems we’ve seen with the implementation of so-called ‘medical’ Cannabis in Alabama,” Schelper said. “Twelve dispensaries for an entire state is not a solution. It’s a barrier, and our citizens deserve better.”
The Alabama Cannabis Coalition remains committed to fighting for genuine access, true free-market reforms, and policies that prioritize patients over monopolies and political interests.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Jennifer Boozer Stewart
Communications Director, Alabama Cannabis Coalition
📞 (251) 303-5193
H Marty Schelper
Founder/President
Alabama Cannabis Coalition
Comments