Decatur OKs 2 more medical marijuana dispensaries as state fees appear to present barrier

Dec. 29—The Decatur City Council has OK'd two more sites in the city where medical marijuana dispensaries could operate, but the approvals came amid indications state fees may discourage some prospective dispensary owners from seeking licenses.

The two Decatur sites approved this week are both on U.S. 31 and bring to four the number of locations in the city where dispensaries could open if licensed by the state.

The deadline to submit an application for a state license is Friday. Through Wednesday, Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission spokeswoman Brittany Peters said in an email, her office had received nine completed applications.

Commission Director John McMillan said last month more than 600 applications were requested. The commission (AMCC) said it will award 37 dispensary licenses statewide June 12.

Joey Robertson, president and partner of Wagon Trail Med-Serv, a hemp farm in Hanceville, said his application for a Decatur site approved this week will be going to the state by Friday. Robertson said he wasn't especially surprised the number of applications the state has received is so low.

"To this point everything has been free," he said.

The application fee is a non-refundable $2,500 and if awarded a license in June, an operator would pay an annual license fee of $10,000 to $50,000.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the state only receives about 30% of the applications requested," Robertson said. "The majority won't submit because of the complexity of the application and the financial restraints involved. I feel everybody is going to be submitting at the last minute."

Robertson said he plans to build a 2,000-square-foot upscale dispensary building on a 2-acre lot just south of Avalon Cove Townhomes at 3610 U.S. 31 S. in Decatur.

Robertson said his proposed site will be like a "large Starbucks essentially." "It will very clean, very nice, very well-lit and a secure site that someone could go in safely and have a nice area to sit," he said. "If the state allows it, hopefully we will have an express line, too, so people can pick up their prescription at a designated time and even order online."

He said construction on the site could begin as early as July.

The other company approved Tuesday for a Decatur site, Verano Alabama LLC, based in Chicago, plans to set up shop at 3417 U.S. 31 S., in a vacant lot behind J&L Mobile Home Parts. The company did not list a phone number on its local application.

On Dec. 21, the City Council approved two other locations for dispensaries in the city. RJK Holdings Inc. of Montgomery has plans to establish its dispensary, if licensed, at 1690 Beltline Road S.W., which is the old Blockbuster Video building across the street from Lowe's.

Arvin Solum of Closing Time Holdings LLC, doing business as Greenpharms AL TBT and based in Glendale, Arizona, would set up shop at 2941 Point Mallard Parkway S.E., Suite E, in the Mallard Village Shopping Center across Alabama 67 from the Publix shopping center.

Officials with those two companies did not immediately return calls Wednesday.

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Startup expensive

Robertson, who said he has about $250,000 tied to the application process, said he has license applications in five counties and sees his business of 10 current employees growing to 75 to 100 if awarded licenses. He said those workers will include registered nurses, commission-certified dispensary workers, security personnel and perhaps even pharmacists.

"Many of the workers will be coming from the local communities," he said. He anticipates the dispensary to have similar hours as local chain store pharmacies — 12 hours a day, seven days a week with five to seven employees per shift.

The potential of making a profit is there, he said, but he added that is not the only reason Wagon Trail is in the cannabis business.

"We've been in business since 2019 and our focus has always been patient based. It's our goal to provide the patient with an affordable, safe product that will improve their quality of life."

Councilman Billy Jackson said people getting into the medicinal marijuana business are taking big risks but there are big rewards, too.

"As far as a business, there is a lot of need for medicinal marijuana," he said. "... If it does well, the city will get revenue off the tax generated. For the owners, the sky could be the limit, but for most small business people, we can't get into it. We don't have the money needed to do so. People are watching it. People would not be getting into it if they didn't think the revenue aspect was going to be significant."

Councilman Carlton McMasters said the entrepreneurs getting in early "could risk losing a lot of money, too."

Robertson said if he is awarded a license, it could be two years before his company could realize a profit.

"Everything is not set in stone. Nobody knows the revenue it may generate," he said.

McMillan has said the state could generate roughly $200 million per year in revenues off medical cannabis.

"It's going to be based on the doctors who come on board to prescribe," Robertson said. "How fast the patient databases get built. We'll be starting at zero. We don't anticipate turning a profit until year two if we are awarded a license. That money he is talking about will have to be split by all of the different licensees. And then there is a substantial amount of overhead we will be facing just to get to a point of profitability."

He said the medical marijuana products will be dispensed in different forms including peach-flavored sugarless gummies, lozenges, pain patches, capsules, tablets, suppositories and through nebulizer inhalers.

"It will come in bottles like the ones you receive at the pharmacies," he said. "You'll need a prescription, your medical card. Items will come with the AMCC insignia on the bottle."

The state law says the commission also can award up to 12 cultivator licenses, four processor licenses, four dispensary licenses, five integrated facility licenses and an unspecified number of secure transport and state testing laboratory licenses.

The state law, approved by the Legislature and Gov. Kay Ivey, requires the commission to consider applicants' solvency, stability, capability and experience.

Medicinal marijuana could help patients with cancer, epilepsy, Crohn's disease; depression; HIV/AIDS-related nausea or weight loss; panic disorder; Parkinson's disease; persistent nausea; post-traumatic stress disorder; sickle cell anemia; spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury; Tourette syndrome; a terminal illness; or conditions causing chronic or intractable pain, according to the AMCC website.

— Alabama Daily News contributed to this article. mike.wetzel@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2442. Twitter @DD_Wetzel.