BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama public health officials have withdrawn the state’s objection to the federal rescheduling of marijuana, ending a months-long procedural delay and removing one barrier to a policy change that supporters say could improve patient access, research and the functioning of the state’s young medical cannabis industry.
The governing body of the Alabama Department of Public Health voted unanimously Thursday to withdraw its objection after department lawyers resolved concerns over how the federal change could affect pharmacies and people seeking medical cannabis, State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said.
The action does not legalize recreational marijuana in Alabama, change the state’s prohibition on nonmedical possession or independently expand the list of patients eligible for medical cannabis. It also does not change the state’s medical cannabis law, which lawmakers passed in 2021.
But the move marks a notable shift after Alabama health officials in May voted to delay federal rescheduling while they evaluated the practical consequences for the state.
“It was always the intent that we would do this, unless there were some major concerns,” Harris said Thursday, according to reporting by Alabama Reflector. “I don’t see any issues with it at this point.”
The U.S. Department of Justice in April moved marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under federal drug law for qualifying state-licensed medical marijuana products. Schedule I is the federal government’s most restrictive category and includes drugs it says have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use. Schedule III includes drugs considered to have a moderate to low potential for physical or psychological dependence and accepted medical uses.
The federal action followed a December executive order from President Donald Trump directing the Justice Department to proceed with rescheduling, according to the Alabama Reflector. Former President Joe Biden had initiated a broader federal review in 2024, although administrative hearings on that earlier proposal were canceled in early 2025.
For qualifying medical cannabis businesses, the federal change could carry major practical implications. Businesses covered by the order could deduct ordinary expenses from federal taxes, an option generally unavailable to enterprises that handle Schedule I substances. Researchers also could obtain state-legal cannabis products for study rather than relying solely on cannabis grown through federal facilities.
Harris said the state’s July public hearing generated strong opinions about medical marijuana more broadly, but few comments addressed the specific operational question before the department: what consequences federal rescheduling would have.
“I would say there are a lot of really passionate people that had a lot of really strong feelings about it, and I don’t want to minimize that or oversimplify that,” Harris said. “The comments were people who really support medical marijuana or who really don’t support medical marijuana. The comments weren’t really about what we were trying to get at, which (was) ‘what are the consequences of rescheduling.’”
Alabama’s medical cannabis program remains tightly limited. The 2021 law permits cannabis for qualifying patients with specified medical conditions, but it does not authorize smoking or vaping marijuana, home cultivation or recreational sales.
The program’s rollout has been delayed by years of disputes and litigation over licenses. Still, three dispensaries are now operating in Alabama, with seven more expected to open in the coming months. At full capacity, the state could have nearly 40 dispensaries.
Harris said Alabama’s program would continue regardless of the federal scheduling change because the 2021 statute was written to protect authorized patients and businesses under state law.
“The program’s already live, even though it’s still Schedule I in Alabama,” Harris said. “The reason is, the statute was written essentially to decriminalize it for people who are authorized to have it.”
That distinction is important. Alabama’s withdrawal of its objection does not mean marijuana has been broadly legalized in the state. Adults without medical authorization can still face criminal penalties for possession, and the state has not adopted a recreational cannabis market like those operating in a growing number of other states.
Opponents who spoke at the July hearing warned that rescheduling would harm children and worsen Alabama’s mental health crisis, according to the Alabama Reflector. The lone supporter of rescheduling said continued resistance could deepen mistrust between patients and physicians.
Those concerns are part of a larger national argument over cannabis policy. But the state’s action Thursday was narrower than that debate: Alabama officials were deciding whether to maintain an objection to a federal medical-marijuana scheduling change after the department’s lawyers concluded that its initial implementation concerns had been addressed.
For patients who have waited years for Alabama’s medical cannabis program to become operational, the decision may be less about ideology than about whether the state is willing to allow a legal, regulated system to function without unnecessary resistance.
Alabama lawmakers approved medical cannabis five years ago. With dispensaries finally opening and federal rules beginning to recognize medical uses for qualifying state-licensed products, Thursday’s unanimous vote suggests that at least one part of state government is prepared to stop treating a tightly regulated medical program as a question that must be deferred indefinitely.