Marijuana Moment
By Anna Barrett, Alabama Reflector
The governing body of the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) Thursday voted to object to a federal rescheduling of marijuana after state health officials said they needed more time to determine how to implement it.
Dr. Scott Harris, Alabama’s top health official, told members of the State Committee of Public Health that the state “fully intends” to implement the change.
“We’re not saying Alabama’s not going to do this,” Harris told the committee. “We certainly are going to do this, but if you receive it without objection, it’s scheduled immediately. If you do nothing, it’s scheduled within 30 days. I’m going to ask you to take the third option, which is to object. Then we just have a little bit of time to figure this out with all of our other stakeholders.”
The committee vote was unanimous. Brian Hale, ADPH’s chief legal officer, said during the meeting the objection would trigger a public comment period. That period would last 30 to 60 days.
“The objection is simply to allow more time for input into the implications of this rescheduling,” Hale said. ‘There’ll be a public hearing scheduled, we’ll see comments that way, and then we’ll talk to other stakeholders, licensing boards and others that may be affected to see what their input may be.”
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