John SchroyerA coalition of eight companies that submitted bids for medical marijuana licenses in Georgia have filed suit against the state, alleging that the permitting process was corrupt and fraudulent and asking a judge to set aside the license awards.
“We’re going to fight to make sure it’s done the right way,” Jake Evans, attorney for the plaintiff companies, told Fox 5 Atlanta.
Six winning companies were selected last year by the Georgia Medical Cannabis Commission, but the results were almost immediately contentious. This is the second lawsuit the state has faced over the process. The first has already been submitted to the Georgia Court of Appeals in December.
The new lawsuit “contends the scoring of all bidders was so heavily redacted” that no useful information can be gleaned from what the commission released publicly.
Evans’ suit requests that the winning bids be voided and all bid documents made public.
“We’re never going to know the full degree to which there were conflicts of interest” in the licensing process, Evans alleged, “because we haven’t had a transparent process.”
