MONTGOMERY, Ala. – In a highly anticipated meeting this week, the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission selected 21 companies for licenses to produce and distribute medical marijuana products.
The legalization of medical marijuana came to fruition thanks to 2021’s Senate Bill 46, sponsored by Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence. The law requires the marijuana products to be grown and produced in Alabama. One of the bill’s co-sponsors, Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, was successful in adding language to the bill that would require one-fourth of all licenses issued to be awarded to companies with at least 51% ownership shared by members of a minority group.
But who are these companies? The majority of them were formed within the last 12 months in anticipation of the state issuing medical cannabis licenses, and some are owned by out-of-state individuals or entities.
The licenses won’t be issued until early July, after an appeals process and payment of fees. Here’s a look at the 21 companies selected to spearhead Alabama’s launch into medical marijuana.
CULTIVATION LICENSES
Blackberry Farms
Formed in September of 2022, Blackberry Farms is a cannabis cultivator whose stated goal is to “produce the highest quality organic medicinal cannabis.” The company is located in Dothan in southeast Alabama, and according to its license application, construction on its cultivation facility will be complete in early August.
The company projects that it would be able to commence operations at its facility within 60 days of being awarded a license, and operate at full capacity within 120 days. On the first day of operation, the company anticipates having 20 employees, and 45 by its fifth year in operation.
Gulf Shore Remedies
Gulf Shore Remedies is a cannabis cultivator formed in June of 2022. Though the company is registered in Montgomery, its cultivation facility – which it does not own but leases – is located at 13310 Mary Ann Beach Road in Fairhope in Mobile County.
Pure by Sirmon Farms
Also in Mobile County, Pure by Sirmon Farms is a cannabis cultivator that will operate out of a 4,500-acre farm that has been run by the same family for more than five generations that specializes in sweet potatoes.
While Sirmon Farms has existed for more than 100 years in Daphne, Pure by Sirmon Farms was registered as a business in December of 2022. Details on the cultivation facility are scarce, as its license application is heavily redacted.
“Our Company’s founding members joined forces with an extremely talented group of cannabis business operators who have deep experience in the cannabis industry that dates back to the advent of legal cannabis markets,” reads an excerpt on the company’s website.
“Our Cannabis Expert Team is a minority-owned business made up of cannabis pioneers that have dedicated much of their professional careers to community development in the communities they live and work in.”
Twisted Herb Cultivation
Twisted Herb Cultivation is located at 8385 Mobile Road in Greenville, southwest of Montgomery. The company was formed in December of 2022, and is expected to have five employees on its first day of operation, and 15 by its second year of operation.
General Partner Ronald Seawright holds the highest percent of ownership of Twisted Herb Cultivation at 49%.
The company will employ a method of growing cannabis without soil, known as hydroponics, using a triple-stacked flowering canopy and LED lighting. In its license application, the company describes its cultivation process further:
“We will select certain genetic strains as our ‘mother’ plants, which will produce cuttings or ‘clones’ to propagate new plants. We will select the healthiest, strongest, and most vigorous specimens for our mother plants. The mother plants’ growing environment will be monitored to maximize the amount of vegetative growth.”
PROCESSOR LICENSES
1819 Labs
Registered in Dothan in southeast Alabama, 1819 Labs is a cannabis processor that will turn marijuana into usable forms such as oils and other products.
Formed in October of 2022, the company estimates its facility – which is still under construction – will be complete by late October, and will commence operations within 135 days of receiving its license. According to its license application, the company will employ 30 people on its first day of operation, capping out at 68 by the fourth year of operation.
The company is majority-minority owned, according to its application.
Enchanted Green
Enchanted Green is a cannabis processor registered in Dothan in southeast Alabama. Little is known about the company as its license application is heavily redacted, however, state records show two individuals associated with the business; Perry Mandera and Eliza Solowiej, are both from the Chicago area in Illinois.
Jasper Development Group
Formed in December of 2022, Jasper Development Group is an out-of-state cannabis processor registered in Jasper, northwest of Birmingham, but formed in Nevada.
According to the company’s license application, its processing facility in Jasper is currently under construction, and is anticipated to be complete in February of 2024. The company estimates to commence operations at its facility within 180 days of receiving its license starting with 14 employees and capping out at 21 by its second year in operation.
The company’s CEO, Tyler Robinson, 33, told Alabama Daily News that he entered the medical cannabis industry in part because of a personal experience.
“I’m personally in this space because my dad was addicted to opiates for 31 years and nearly died of liver failure as a result,” Robinson said. “He found medical cannabis and it saved his life. That’s what we’re here for, we are here literally for the patients.”
Organic Harvest Lab
Organic Harvest Lab is a cannabis processor in Birmingham formed in November of 2021. Located at 631 20th Street North, the facility is leased by the company, and according to the company’s license application, is fully constructed.
The application lists Kent Haehl as having an ownership interest. Haehl is the president of Atlas Group, a company of regulated and ancillary cannabis and hemp businesses based in the Seattle area of Washington.
DISPENSARY LICENSES
CCS of Alabama
Formed in July of 2022, CCS of Alabama is a medical cannabis dispensary. Information on the company is scarce due to a heavily redacted license application, however, state records show that the company’s registered address is in Birmingham, and that the business was registered with the state by Maynard, Cooper & Gale, a Birmingham-based law firm.
RJK Holdings AL
RJK Holdings AL is a medical cannabis dispensary formed in September of 2022. While the company’s license application is heavily redacted, its website lists three dispensary locations, with one in Oxford, one in Daphne and another in Mobile. State records show the company is registered in Montgomery, and that it was registered by CT Corporation, a subsidiary of the Netherlands-based company Wolters Kluwer, an information services company that operates in more than 150 countries.
Statewide Property Holdings AL
A medical cannabis dispensary, Statewide Property Holdings AL’s stated mission is to “revolutionize patient health through medical cannabis by providing the widest possible selection of products,” according to its website. The company lists three dispensary locations in the state; one in Cullman, one in Foley and another in Gadsden.
Its license application is heavily redacted, however, state records show that the company was formed in September of 2022, is registered in Montgomery at the same address as RJK Holdings AL, and that it was registered by CT Corporation, a subsidiary of the Netherlands-based company Wolters Kluwer, also identical to RJK Holdings AL.
Yellowhammer Medical Dispensaries
Yellowhammer Medical Dispensaries is a medical cannabis dispensary company with three locations in the state; one in Birmingham at 2160 Green Springs Highway South, one just out of Huntsville at 9639 Highway 431 South, and another in Demopolis at 1324 US-80 East.
According to the company’s license application, all three locations will be ready to commence operations within 120 days of license issuance. The company is registered in Birmingham, according to state records.
The company is majority-minority owned, according to its application.
SECURE TRANSPORTER LICENSES
Alabama Secure Transport
Formed in September of 2022, Alabama Secure Transport is a company specifically tailored to deliver and transport medical cannabis across the state. Headquartered in Montgomery, the company is owned by Neal Whatley and Thomas Sutter, who together also own BFS Logistics, also based in Montgomery.
Born and raised in Montgomery, Sutter told Alabama Daily News that they were excited to learn they were selected for one of three available transporter licenses. There were nine applicants.
“We feel great about being appointed,” Sutter said. “It was a stringent application process, but we did our due diligence and we’re confident that we have the experience and the resources to service the industry at a very high level.”
International Communication
Formed in 2009, International Communication is a company headquartered in Birmingham. Its transport facility is located at 500 Gene Reed Road in Birmingham, with the company owned wholly by Birmingham resident Daffnie Martin. According to its license application, the company is anticipated to have three employees once it commences medical cannabis deliveries, and 13 by its fifth year of operation.
According to state records, the company specializes in the sale of communication equipment and accessories. International Communication is a minority-majority owned business.
Tyler Van Lines
Tyler Van Lines is a freight transport business formed in 2010 and registered in Troy, southeast of Montgomery. According to its license application, the company anticipates starting with 12 employees and having 200 by its fifth year of operation.
The company is wholly owned by another corporation, its name redacted in the company’s application, but viewable in state records as being Tyler Transport, a transportation company formed in 2000, also based in Troy.
STATE TESTING LABORATORY LICENSES
Certus Laboratories
Registered in Daphne, Certus Laboratories is a medical lab formed in 2014 that is based in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
The company’s facility in Alabama is located at 10264 Potter Tract Road in Mobile County, and according to the company’s license application, will be ready to commence operations within seven days of being issued a license.
The company is owned by three separate entities; The Picky Table, an Alabama-based occupational therapist company at 51.25% ownership, B14 Enterprises, a Mississippi-based company at 26.25% ownership, and GP&A Holdings, another Mississippi-based company at 22.5% ownership.
Amber Miller-Walker, who maintains 100% ownership of The Picky Table, is also listed as Certus Laboratories’ majority owner.
Certus Laboratories also specializes in COVID-19, molecular and respiratory pathogen panel testing, and is accredited by the Commission on Office Laboratory Accreditation.
INTEGRATED FACILITIES LICENSES
Flowerwood Medical Cannabis
Formed in September of 2022, Flowerwood Medical Cannabis plans to cultivate, process and dispense medical cannabis, with multiple facilities catered to each step of the process, all located in Loxley in Baldwin County.
While registered in Loxley, many individuals who share ownership of the company reside out of state, though the majority ownership is held by FW Canna, a company which itself is owned by Alabama resident Leah Ladd.
The company anticipates having 35 employees when operations commence, topping out at 170 by its fifth year of operation, according to its license application.
Southeast Cannabis Company
Southeast Cannabis Company is a medical cannabis integrated facility that will operate out of Mobile County at Shore Acres Plant Farm, which has serviced the Southeast region of the United States for more than 70 years.
The company is led by COO Chuck Smith, CEO Oliver Washington, who also owns Shore Acres Plant Farm, and President George Radcliff, whose focus is on the business development and medical side of operations. Smith, who has 14 years of experience in the industry, told Alabama Daily News that the company will be involved with every step of medicinal cannabis production, from the growing and producing, to transporting and selling.
“I’ve seen the benefits of the medicine of cannabis on people firsthand, I’ve met people in person whose life has changed,” Smith said.
“For example, a baby that has Dravet syndrome, I’ve witnessed personally children that have had to be on a cocktail of pharmaceutical drugs that every time you put another one on top of it, it created another side effect which was really debilitating. You put them on a low dose of medical cannabis, and in many cases those kids got off of a majority of those pharmaceutical drugs and were able to maintain and live a normal life. I’ve seen the same thing with PTSD veterans that their only resource was opioids, alcohol or illegal drugs.”
The company also has five dispensaries that are “geographically dispersed across the state,” but said he could not yet confirm their locations publicly.
Sustainable Alabama
Based in Salem just out of Opelika, Sustainable Alabama is a medical cannabis integrated facility formed in August of 2022.
The company has one facility in Salem at 800 Lee Road 344 to cultivate, process and dispense medical cannabis, and five separate dispensing facilities in Foley, Birmingham, Mobile, Dothan and Demopolis. The company has well over a dozen individuals who share ownership of the business, ranging from 15% to 1% ownership, all residents of Alabama.
Many of the owners are partial owners of Neal Pope’s Farm in Salem. Ben Bramlett, who holds 5% ownership of the company, has managed all aspects of the farm’s vegetable and hemp cultivation since 2018.
The company anticipates having 16 employees when it commences operations, and 97 by its fifth year of operation.
TheraTrue Alabama
TheraTrue Alabama is a medical cannabis integrated facility company registered in Montgomery, at the same address as Statewide Property Holdings AL and RJK Holdings AL, two companies that were issued dispensary licenses by the state. TheraTrue Alabama was also registered by the same entity as the two aforementioned companies, CT Corporation System, a subsidiary of the Netherlands-based company Wolters Kluwer.
The company was one of three to sue the state over its application process, arguing that technical limitations forced the company to “degrade the quality of some of its application exhibits.”
The company was founded by Paul Judge, an investor who co-founded three companies including TechSquare Labs and Pindrop. The CEO, Victor Mancebo, previously served as the president of Liberty Health Sciences, a Florida-based medical cannabis company.
The company is majority-minority owned, according to its license application.
Verano Alabama
Verano Alabama is a Chicago-based medical cannabis integrated facility company registered in Montgomery and formed in June of 2022.
While the company’s license application is heavily redacted, its website states that the organization grows more than 160 different strains of cannabis, has 14 cultivation and production facilities spanning a combined million square feet, owns more than 120 dispensaries and has more than 4,000 employees.