After years of failed efforts, Alabama lawmakers agreed in early May on a bill to legalize medical cannabis. On Monday, Gov. Kay Ivey signed the bill into law. “I’ve signed SB 46 pertaining to medical marijuana. I would like to thank Sen. Tim Melson & Rep. Mike Ball for their hard work over the last few years & their commitment to continue to work on this to ensure we have a productive, safe & responsible operation in AL,” Ivey tweeted. Last year, Sen. Tim Melson introduced a medical cannabis bill that cleared the Senate before it died, as did many cannabis bills amid COVID-19 lockdowns. When Melson reintroduced medical cannabis this year as SB 46, the legislation quickly cleared the Senate and went to the House, the real battleground for medical cannabis in Alabama this year. There, in the first week of May, after hours of debate, testimony, and filibuster efforts, the bill passed 68-34. The bill returned to the Senate, as the House made amendments, where it swiftly passed.
Nushin Rashidian, Cannabis Wire, 05/16/2021 20:00:00