SB326 Alabama 2015 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Bobby D. SingletonSenator

Democrat

Session

Regular Session 2015

Title

Medical Marijuana Patient Safe Access Act, authorizing medical use of marijuana for certain qualifying patients.

Summary

SB326 would authorize medical use of marijuana for Alabama patients with qualifying serious medical conditions, under a state-licensed program with physician certification and patient identification cards.

What This Bill Does

It allows medical use of cannabis for patients diagnosed with serious medical conditions by a physician and creates an identification card system. It establishes nonprofit entities to grow, dispense, deliver, manufacture, and test medical cannabis, and defines patient, caregiver, and provider roles. It sets three classes of physician recommendations with specific monthly purchase limits and plant/cultivation allowances, and permits collectives to grow cannabis for medical use under nonprofit rules. It also imposes testing requirements, employment protections for qualified patients and caregivers, local regulatory authority, and a tax funded enforcement mechanism.

Who It Affects

• Qualified patients with serious medical conditions and their designated caregivers, who would be able to obtain physician certification, receive identification cards, and purchase/possess medical cannabis within defined limits.
• Medical cannabis organizations (dispensing centers, delivery services, cultivators, product manufacturers, and laboratories), local governments, law enforcement, and employers, who would be subject to licensing, testing, taxation, regulatory rules, and employment protections related to medical cannabis.

Key Provisions

• Authorizes medical use of cannabis for qualified patients diagnosed with a serious medical condition, following a full medical evaluation and issuance of a department-approved identification card.
• Creates nonprofit entities for medical cannabis activities (dispensing centers, delivery services, cultivators, product manufacturers, and laboratories) and defines their relationships and responsibilities to patients and caregivers.
• Establishes three classes of physician recommendations with specific purchase limits and plant/cultivation caps: Class 1 (2.5 ounces/month; up to 8 ounces and 8 plants with a grow license), Class 2 (5 ounces/month; up to 12 ounces and 12 plants with a grow license), Class 3 (10 ounces/month; up to 16 ounces and 16 plants with a grow license). Seedlings do not count toward totals.
• Allows qualified patients and designated caregivers to form nonprofit collectives to cultivate cannabis for medical use, with safeguards against criminal penalties and required testing of unknown-source cannabis by a medical cannabis laboratory.
• Creates an identification card program with county processing, verification, renewal, and a 24-hour verification system for law enforcement; sets fees and provides potential reductions for participants in social services programs.
• Imposes a 2.5% sales tax on medical cannabis, with revenue split to fund sheriff and municipal police departments to combat illegal trafficking and production of drugs listed on Alabama’s controlled substances list.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 24, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Health