Shawn Breyer
Is weed legal in Alabama?
This article is going to cover:
Weed is not legal in Alabama for recreational use.
But weed is legal in Alabama for medical use.
Alabama continues to criminalize any amount of marijuana.
Marijuana is a Schedule I drug in Alabama.
Here is the Alabama Controlled Substances Act.
Let’s look at the different types of Alabama weed laws.
| Offense | Penalties | Jail Time | Max Fines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Possession | |||
| Any Amount (First Offense) | Misdemeanor | 1 year | $6,000 |
| Any Amount (Subsequent Offenses) | Felony | 5 years | $7,500 |
| Any Amount (Not Personal Use) | Felony | 10 years | $6,000 |
| Sale Or Distribution | |||
| Any Amount | Felony | 20 years | $30,000 |
| To A Minor | Felony | Lifetime | $60,000 |
| In A School Zone | Felony | 5 years | No Maximums |
| Trafficking | |||
| 2.2 - 100 lbs | Felony | 99 years | $25,000 |
| 100 - 500 lbs | Felony | 99 years | $50,000 |
| 500 - 1,000 lbs | Felony | 99 years | $200,000 |
| Cultivation | |||
| 2nd Degree | Felony | 20 years | $30,000 |
| 1st Degree | Felony | Lifetime | $60,000 |
| Hash & Concentrates | |||
| Possession | Misdemeanor | 1 year | $2,500 |
| Manufacturing 2nd Degree | Felony | 20 years | $30,000 |
| Manufacturing 1st Degree | Felony | Lifetime | $60,000 |
| Paraphernalia | |||
| Possession | Misdemeanor | 1 year | $6,000 |
| Sale (First Offense) | Felony | 1 year | $6,000 |
| Sale (Second Offense) | Felony | 6 years | $15,000 |
| Intent to Manufacture | Felony | 10 years | $15,000 |
| To A Minor | Felony | 20 years | $30,000 |
These are the marijuana laws for personal possession of marijuana.
Recreational cannabis is not decriminalized in Alabama for adult use.
Possessing any amount (personal use) is a misdemeanor with:
Subsequent personal use possession is a Class D felony with:
Possessing any amount (NOT personal use) is a Class C felony with:
Related: How Many People Are In Jail For Weed
Selling any amount of weed is a Class B felony with:
Selling to a minor is a Class A felony with:
Selling within 3 miles of schools or public housing is a felony with:
The sale, cultivation, or manufacturing of 2.2+ lbs gets considered trafficking.
All trafficking charges are felonies with mandatory minimum sentences.
And all sentences can get you up to 99 years in prison.
Trafficking 2.2 – 100 lbs is a felony with:
Trafficking 100 – 500 lbs is a felony with:
Trafficking 500 – 1,000 lbs is a felony with:
The marijuana laws for cultivating marijuana get you an automatic felony.
Manufacture Second Degree of weed is a felony with:
Manufacture First Degree of weed is a felony with:
Manufacture Second Degree is growing a Schedule I drug in Alabama.
Manufacture First Degree is growing a Schedule I drug along with:
Possession of small amounts is only a misdemeanor.
Possession of THC concentrates gets you a misdemeanor with:
This next part applies to manufacturing, selling, or delivering THC hash and concentrates.
Manufacture Second Degree of weed is a felony with:
Manufacture First Degree of weed is a felony with:
State laws for paraphernalia are split between possession and selling it.
Possessing or using paraphernalia is a misdemeanor with:
Selling paraphernalia (first offense) is a misdemeanor with:
Selling paraphernalia (second offense) is a felony with:
Using or selling paraphernalia with intent to manufacture is a felony with:
Giving paraphernalia to a minor is a felony with:
Decriminalization of marijuana has not happened in Alabama yet.
The Alabama Senate voted on Senate Bill 149, which was initiated by Bobby Singleton.
This Alabama legislature passed the Senate with a 15-14 vote for decriminalization.
The next step was sending it to the Senate Judiciary Committee for voting.
As of May 2021, the Senate “Indefinitely Postponed” decriminalization bill.
Republican Gov. Kay Ivey continues to oppose marijuana legalization in Alabama.
And that extends to decriminalizing the possession of marijuana.
But, Democratic Mayor Randall Woodfin pushes for decriminalization.
Woodfin has given pardons to more than 15,000 Alabamians in Birmingham.
For possession of the drug from 1990 through 2020.
And he plans to continue to pardon possession records every year.
Until a marijuana bill passes to decriminalize the possession of marijuana.
This section is covering whether weed is legal in Alabama for:
Is weed legal in Alabama for recreational use?
No, weed is not legal in Alabama for recreational cannabis use for adults.
No, weed is not legal in Alabama for medical use.
Alabama is one of the only 13 states without the legalization of marijuana for medical use.
But products with THC in them are allowed for medical use.
Patients can use THC products if they have been diagnosed by an Alabama physician.
The qualifying medical conditions for a medical card in Alabama are:
And the products that patients are allowed to consume are:
Purchasing cannabis outside of a licensed dispensary is illegal for Alabama residents.
Lawmakers consider non-dispensary weed controlled substances.
Yes, THC is legal in Alabama for medical use only.
But THC is not legal for the recreational use of marijuana.
Patients can possess medical cannabis products with up to 5% THC in them.
Patients cannot have the marijuana flower – only derivatives like CBD Oils.
THC is illegal in Alabama if the person does not have a qualifying condition.
And a diagnosis from a licensed physician.
The legal THC limit in Alabama for medical patients is “70 daily doses.”
This comes out to be 50 milligrams for the first 90 days.
50 milligrams of THC is 5% of 1 gram.
This means you can only consume 1 gram of product per day if the THC potency is 5%.
But the legal THC limit for medical cannabis products is 0.3% THC.
This means you have to consume 16.7 grams of product to ingest 50 milligrams.
Yes, Delta-8 THC is legal in Alabama to:
Delta-8 THC is legal in Alabama under the Agriculture Improvement Act (2018 Farm Bill).
Delta-8 THC has to get sourced from hemp with less than 0.3% THC.
Anything containing more than this gets considered as marijuana under state laws.
For the first offense of possession, any amount of weed is a misdemeanor.
But, subsequent offenses for possession of any amount is a felony.
A felony is not dependent on how much weed you have.
It’s dependent on how many possession charges you have.
This is the state legislature on Alabama’s weed legalization bills.
Related: Marijuana Legality By State
Gov. Robert Bentley signed this state law into effect.
It amended the criminal codes for low THC CBD Oils.
This bill got named after Carly Chandler.
Whose parents fought to get her access to low THC CBD for her medical conditions.
This bill allowed the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) to research CBD.
They were given the task of researching CBD for its treatment of seizures.
Sen. Bobby Singleton proposed the Medical Marijuana Patient Safe Access Act.
This bill would have legalized medical cannabis for patients with 25 severe medical conditions.
Patients could have applied for being able to grow their own marijuana plants.
But this bill never reached the Senate floor to get voted on.
Leni’s Law got created to update Carly’s Law.
Carly’s Law authorized the UAB to study CBD for the treatment of seizures.
Leni’s law decriminalized cannabidiols for people with qualifying medical conditions.
The law got named after Leni Young.
A girl who moved to Oregon from Alabama so she could use CBD for seizure treatments.
This bill updated Alabama law to allow patients to have CBD with 0.3% THC in it.
For minors, parents and caregivers can possess cannabidiol derivatives.
Senate Bill 225 was signed by Gov. Kay Ivey in 2019.
This bill redefined and rescheduled CBD to align with the Federal Farm Bill.
It allowed Pharmacies in Alabama to sell CBD to qualifying patients.
The Compassion Act was meant to legalize medical marijuana in Alabama.
Senate Bill 165 got passed by the Senate in 2020.
But it never got voted on by the House.
Because the state legislature ”adjourned early.”
This medical marijuana bill (Senate Bill 46) got passed by Gov. Kay Ivey.
It legalized medical marijuana for 16 qualifying conditions.
But only if “other treatments had failed or marijuana is the standard of care.”
This bill set up the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission.
Which created the management system for:
And the Department of Agriculture is responsible for licensing cannabis growers.
Medical patients cannot have the “flower” of marijuana plants.
They can only have THC derivatives.
Forms of medical marijuana patients can have are:
If you’re interested in what states weed is legal in, here’s a list of all the states.
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