Are medical cannabis licenses fairly distributed to minorities?

TO DISCUSS A PERMANENT BAN. THE ROAD TO GETTING MEDICAL MARIJUANA TO ALABAMA PATIENTS WHO NEED IT HAS BEEN A BUMPY ONE. AFTER APPROVING LICENSES FOR BUSINESSES TO GROW. PROCESS. TEST TRANSPORT AND SELL CANNABIS. THE ALABAMA MEDICAL CANNABIS COMMISSION HAS TWICE HAD TO PAUSE THE PROCESS, AND THE FIRST TIME IT WAS IN JUNE. AND THAT’S WHEN THEY DISCOVERED TABULATION ERRORS IN THE WAY THAT THEY CHOOSE THE LICENSEES. NOW, A TEMPORARY STAY ON ISSUING THE LICENSES FROM A JUDGE AFTER SEVERAL LAWSUITS WERE FILED, ARGUING THE PROCESS WAS FLAWED. WVTM13’S LISA CRANE LIVE IN BIRMINGHAM NOW, THERE ARE SOME COMPLAINTS NOT ENOUGH MINORITY OWNERS, MINORITY OWNED COMPANIES WERE APPROVED. LISA. YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT. YOU KNOW, EARLY ON IN THIS PROCESS, STATE LAWMAKERS SAID THAT 25% OF THE LICENSES WOULD BE AWARDED TO MINORITY OWNED BUSINESSES WHEN THE COMMISSION AWARDED THOSE LICENSES. MOST RECENTLY JUST OVER A WEEK AGO, THEY ANNOUNCED 24 COMPANIES, EIGHT REPORTEDLY ARE MINORITY OWNED. NOW THAT’S 33%. BUT THE DIRECTOR OF ALABAMA’S MINORITIES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA SAYS THAT THE PERCENTAGE IS NOT EVENLY DISTRIBUTED, AGGRESSIVELY MOVING FORWARD. ANTOINE MORGAN OWNS NATIVE BLACK CULTIVATION RIGHT NOW. HE’S A HEMP FARMER BUT WAS HOPING TO TRANSITION INTO A CANNABIS CULTIVATOR. BUT HE WAS DENIED A LICENSE. S WE ACTUALLY WAS DENIED DUE TO A PROOF OF RESIDENCY, WHICH WAS MY FIRST TIME HEARING ABOUT IT, AND IT WAS A LITTLE DISTASTEFUL, A LITTLE DISHEARTENING. MORGAN IS ALSO THE DIRECTOR OF ALABAMA’S MINORITIES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA ORGANIZATION. HE SAYS IT’S IMPORTANT BLACK AND BROWN PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN DISPROPORTIONATELY IMPACTED BY DRUG LAWS ARE REPRESENTED IN THIS NEW INDUSTRY. MY BIGGEST THING WAS TO MAKE SURE THAT WE HAVE MINORITY TO MINORITY OWNERSHIP IN THIS BUSINESS AND THIS INDUSTRY AS IT CONTINUES TO DEVELOP HERE IN ALABAMA AND MAKING SURE ULTIMATELY ALABAMA ALABAMIANS WIN ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE BOARD. MORGAN HAS BEEN DISAPPOINTED BY THE STATE MEDICAL CANNABIS COMMISSION, SAYING IT LACKED WHEN IT COMES TO TRANSPARENCY AND COMMUNICATION, WHEN THE COMMISSION DOESN’T DO THE BEST JOB OF GIVING THE INFORMATION OUT TO THE PUBLIC, WHAT COMES OUT OF THOSE MEETINGS? SO IF YOU’RE NOT IN THOSE ROOMS, YOU’RE PRETTY MUCH NOT GOING TO GET THE NECESSARY INFORMATION. AND WITH THE ROLE THAT I SERVE IN AS THE ALABAMA STATE DIRECTOR FOR MINORITIES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA, I SERVE A HUGE COMMUNITY AND I NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY ARE ABLE TO GET CREDIBLE INFORMATION AND FEEDBACK FROM HOW EVERYTHING IS GOING ON HERE IN ALABAMA, MEDICAL CANNABIS IS POTENTIALLY A MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY, AND MANY COMPANIES WOULD LIKE A PIECE OF THAT NOW WITH A TEMPORARY RESTRAINT ORDER AND MULTIPLE LAWSUITS, IT MAY TAKE EVEN LONGER TO GET THE INDUSTRY OFF THE GROUND AND ULTIMATELY ALABAMIANS WIN BECAUSE IT’S ABOUT TO BE A WEALTH OF ECONOMIC STIMULATION THAT NEEDS TO BE FUNNELED HERE WITHIN OUR STATE. NOW, NO WORD ON WHEN THIS TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER WILL BE LIFTED AND WHETHER IT WILL MEAN THAT ALABAMA, WHO COULD BENEFIT FROM MEDICAL CANNABIS, WILL HAVE TO WAIT EVEN LONGER FOR TH