State by State INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS WA VT NH MT OR ID WY NV UT CA CO KS MO KY NC TN AZ NM TX OK AR MS LA FL AK ■ Medical ■ Recreational Note: This map does not include states that have legalized only CBD-based oils. HI ©2024 MJBizDaily, a division of Emerald X. All rights reserved. Data is current as of Feb. 12, 2024. AL GA SC NE IA OH IL IN WV VA DE MD DC SD ND MN MA WI MI PA NJ NY RI CT ME State News Alabama State regulators ended 2023 with a promise that the first legal sale of medical marijuana will happen sometime in 2024. But MMJ sales in the state cannot begin until dispensary licenses are issued, a process that an Alabama circuit judge temporarily blocked in late December, the Associated Press reported. Alabama legalized medical marijuana in 2021, but a series of challenges to how the state judged license applications and awarded permits have kept MMJ businesses and patients waiting. After two earlier attempts to award permits were thwarted, the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission issued 20 licenses on Dec. 1, including four dispensary permits. That prompted a lawsuit by Yellowhammer Medical Dispensaries, which was awarded a permit in the first two aborted licensing rounds but then was rejected in the third go-round. Montgomery Circuit Judge James Anderson blocked the state from issuing the dispensary permits until a court hears Yellowhammer's legal challenge. mjbizdaily.com | March-April 2024 17http://www.mjbizdaily.com