Is weed legal in Alabama?

Recreational status

Recreational cannabis is not legal in Alabama. (Code of Alabama § 20-2A-2 Legislative findings)

The chapter behind the program states that it does not intend to enable recreational use, so nothing in it opens a counter to a person without a card. Alabama also writes lawful medical use to cover only cannabis bought from a licensed dispensary, which leaves anything obtained elsewhere outside the program's protection.

Medical status

A full medical cannabis program runs in Alabama, serving patients the program registers. (Code of Alabama § 20-2A-3 Definitions)

Medical cannabis is limited to specific product forms -- oral tablet, capsule, or tincture; non-sugarcoated lozenge or gelatinous cube; topical gel, oil, or cream; suppository; transdermal patch; nebulizer; or inhaler liquid -- and excludes raw plant material and any product administered by smoking, combustion, or vaping, under Code of Alabama 20-2A-3(14).

What Alabama allows by form narrows the visit more than the card does. A patient who expects flower or a vape will find neither, and only that patient or their registered caregiver may take product from the counter.

Hemp-derived products

Alabama permits the sale of hemp-derived products and limits which ones. (Alabama Administrative Code 20-X-32 General Provisions (Consumable Hemp Products))

Sale is limited to three ABC Board-licensed retailer types under Alabama Administrative Code 20-X-33 (specialty retailer, pharmacy, and retail food store), each restricted to purchasers 21 years of age or older, and products may not contain intoxicating additives other than cannabinoids.

Alabama put consumable hemp under the board that handles alcohol, and the 21-and-over rule at those counters sits above the age its medical program uses. A shop selling these products holds a license of its own, separate from anything a medical dispensary carries.

Home cultivation

Alabama allows nobody to grow cannabis at home. (Code of Alabama § 20-2A-50 Licensing and regulation of medical cannabis)

Only a commission-licensed cultivator -- a commercial entity, capped at 12 statewide under Code of Alabama 20-2A-62 -- may grow cannabis. 'Medical use' under Code of Alabama 20-2A-3(16) excludes cannabis not purchased or acquired from a licensed dispensary, so no patient or caregiver cultivation is authorized.

Neither a card nor a caregiver's registration opens a door to a home garden. Every lawful plant in the state grows inside a licensed cultivator's building, so a seedling on a patient's windowsill falls outside what Alabama counts as medical use.

Possession and purchase limits

The possession limit, as Alabama states it: No more than 70 daily dosages of medical cannabis at any time. (Code of Alabama § 20-2A-30 Registered qualified patient; registered caregiver)

The daily dosage amount for a patient is set by their registered certifying physician, under Code of Alabama 20-2A-3(6).

On buying, Alabama states: No more than 60 daily dosages of medical cannabis in a 60-day period, and the supply may not be renewed more than 10 days before that period expires. (Code of Alabama § 20-2A-30 Registered qualified patient; registered caregiver)

Alabama counts in doses rather than in grams, and the physician who certified you sets what a dose is, so two patients at the same limit may hold very different amounts. The 60-day period also fixes when you may return, because a refill cannot come more than 10 days before the period runs out.

Minimum age

There is no recreational channel in Alabama, so no recreational age applies. (Code of Alabama § 20-2A-2 Legislative findings)

Null because it is not the intent of this chapter to enable recreational use, so no adult-use channel exists to set an age for.

You must be 19 or over to hold a card and buy for yourself. (Code of Alabama § 20-2A-30 Registered qualified patient; registered caregiver)

A resident under 19 may also be a registered qualified patient and use medical cannabis, but only with a parent or legal guardian serving as their registered caregiver, who does the purchasing and possessing on the minor's behalf, under Code of Alabama 20-2A-30(b).

Alabama draws its line at 19, which is not the line at the hemp counters, where a licensed retailer may serve only adults 21 and over. A patient below 19 never handles the transaction, because the parent or guardian registered as caregiver does the buying and the holding.

Where you can buy

You can buy lawfully from a licensed medical dispensary and a retailer of hemp-derived or CBD products. (Code of Alabama § 20-2A-64 Dispensary licensing)

Alabama Administrative Code 20-X-33 separately licenses three types of consumable hemp product retailers -- specialty retailer, pharmacy, and retail food store -- each restricted to purchasers 21 years of age or older. A medical cannabis dispensary may sell only to a registered qualified patient or registered caregiver.

Two different counters exist here under two different regulators, and only one of them asks for a card. A dispensary checks you against the registry before it sells; a licensed hemp retailer checks that you are 21.

The Alabama store list names every licensed location this site holds a record for.

Federal law applies here too, and it is not the same. Read what federal law says about weed.