Greenhouses for medical-grade cannabis are in place at a facility in west Montgomery owned by Alabama Always LLC, which has not yet received a license from the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission. A Montgomery company that applied for a business license with the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission has accused the AMCC of improperly erasing the recordings of its meetings, which the company said could include information relevant to its lawsuit against the agency.
The AMCC has acknowledged problems with the licensing process but also accused Alabama Always of trying to circumvent the court’s position that discovery in the lawsuit is premature and of improperly asking an AMCC employee about meeting records without an AMCC lawyer present. At that hearing, the judge denied the request by Alabama Always for “expedited discovery” to obtain depositions and documents from the AMCC to learn more about what the company claims are legal problems and inconsistencies with the licensing process. Anderson said the request was premature.
The AMCC, in its response filed on July 19, said the Open Records Act did not require preservation of the recordings. The AMCC said that “despite the hype” over the erased recordings of meetings, there was no loss of information because the minutes were the official record of the meetings.