Alabama's medical program is about to go from three shops to five

At its October 29 meeting, Alabama's medical cannabis commission said two more dispensaries are due to open the following week, which would make five statewide. Callie's Apothecary is adding a Bessemer store to its Montgomery and Talladega locations, and Bama Bloom is opening a Birmingham shop to join its Athens one. A third licensee, RJK Holdings, has not opened yet and plans sites in Oxford, Mobile and Daphne.

The first Alabama dispensary opened June 4, nearly five years after the program was approved in 2021. The state has issued more than 2,300 patient ID cards, and 83 physicians are certified to recommend cannabis, though only 62 have finished registering with the commission. The three open shops were projected to bring in $130,000 to $140,000 in October, after topping $120,000 in each of the prior two months.

The menu is narrow. Tinctures, capsules, tablets, oils and transdermal patches are allowed. Flower and anything meant for smoking are not.

Licensing remains tangled. A fourth standalone dispensary license is in litigation, and lawsuits are blocking the integrated facility licenses, which would allow far more stores. Shoppers should expect a slow build rather than a quick ramp, and anyone planning a launch there should assume product formats stay limited until the legal fights end.