Is Medical Marijuana Legal in Mississippi?

In the last six months, states have legalized cannabis at an unprecedented rate — it seems like a new state is legalizing it nearly every week. On the bright side of things, the green law trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.

Every cannabis-related voting measure presented to voters last November has passed for the past six months, including those in conservative Mississippi, Montana and South Dakota. In addition, bills legalizing recreational cannabis have been approved by state legislatures in New York, New Mexico and Virginia.

The idea of ​​legalizing marijuana now has broad support from Democratic lawmakers, and some Republicans are also on board. While various actions related to marijuana have been proposed in Congress, including those attempting to decriminalize it at the federal level, state legislatures are debating whether and how to legalize the drug.

According to proponents, growing public support for marijuana legalization is beginning to change lawmakers’ opinions and attitudes, even in some of the more conservative states.

Medical marijuana law in the state of Mississippi

Mississippi voters approved the approval of medical cannabis in November 2020 and elected Initiative 65, a sweeping, citizen-led constitutional amendment to legalize medical cannabis.

This program would allow patients with certain medical conditions to purchase cannabis products to help fight their illnesses and boost their immune systems. It was adopted by 74% of Mississippi voters in the midterm elections. The number of companies that could be licensed to produce, grow, and distribute commodities was also unlimited under the program.

In other words, a majority of Mississippi voters supported a medical marijuana initiative that would have allowed individuals to purchase up to 5 ounces of marijuana each month.

Six months later, the country’s Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional on the grounds that the proposal had not been properly put to a vote and that the state initiative procedure was outdated.

However, on February 2, 2022, Mississippi became the 37th state to officially legalize medical marijuana, ending a multi-year campaign by advocates to have a program approved.

The Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act (SB 2095), sponsored by Senator Kevin Blackwell, was signed into law by Gov. Tate Reeves to restore the will of the people by establishing a medical marijuana program. The final version of Senate Bill 2095 was approved by the Republican-controlled House and Senate of the state.

It’s a significant development as lawmakers in several other states, including Tennessee and South Carolina, are proposing legislation to create a legal framework that would allow people with certain medical conditions to purchase small amounts of cannabis or cannabis-infused products to treat their symptoms .

Which states have legalized medical marijuana so far?

According to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, 38 states including Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi have , Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania have legalized medical marijuana to varying degrees since June 2022.

Each jurisdiction has its own requirements for the conditions under which cannabis can be prescribed, the dosages that can be prescribed, and the process for issuing medical marijuana licenses to eligible citizens.

Initiative 65 and Alternative 65A on Medical Marijuana in Mississippi

Two medical marijuana amendments, Mississippi Ballot Measure 1 (Initiative 65 and Alternative 65A), were up for a vote in Mississippi on November 3, 2020. The state legislature relegated Alternative 65A to voting with Initiative 65 as a replacement initiative.

Alternative 65A was developed by the Mississippi State Legislature as a counter-proposal to Initiative 65, a grassroots initiative that grew out of the Medical Marijuana 2020 (MM2020) movement. Initiative 65 easily garnered over 228,000 signatures to qualify for voting.

However, the initiative was ruled illegal by the Mississippi Supreme Court on May 14, 2021 for not adhering to the Mississippi Constitution’s standards for the dissemination of signatures.

The thing is, Mississippi overwhelmingly approved the use of medical marijuana last November, but the state Supreme Court turned down the ballot initiative in May on an odd technicality.

Initiative 65 was ruled illegal by the Mississippi Supreme Court, but that was not an unusual occurrence. Republicans across the country have sought to undermine the ballot initiative process, a crucial tool that allows individuals to influence policy without depending on the legislature. And they’re doing so by opposing moves to legalize cannabis, which is common amid growing support for the issue among conservative citizens, but not among conservative lawmakers.

The consequences

Finally, on February 2, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed legislation legalizing medicinal cannabis. The Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act permits the use of medicinal cannabis to treat a number of serious conditions, including cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, muscular dystrophy, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, ALS, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, autism, and many more diseases.

Once cannabis has been properly grown and tested in the state, patients with any of the 28 listed medical conditions (easily found on the Mississippi Department of Health and Human Services’ marijuana page) can purchase it with a medical marijuana card.

In addition, the draft law allows the certification of persons with diseases by doctors, nurses, medical assistants and optometrists. The Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act is also very specific regarding the types of business licenses that can be obtained. Seven different license categories are offered for cultivation, processing, dispensaries, transportation, disposal, testing and research.

Under the new law, patients can purchase up to 3.5 grams of cannabis per day for up to six days a week. That equates to about 3 ounces a month. It also stipulates that plants must be produced indoors under regulated conditions and establishes taxes on the cultivation and sale of cannabis. However, the law does not incentivize the economic development of the cannabis industry.

It’s important to note that cannabis flower, cannabis extracts, cannabis edibles, beverages, topicals, ointments, oils, tinctures, and suppositories are all legal medicinal cannabis products to be used in Mississippi. Finally, unlike other THC concentration limits, Mississippi’s medical marijuana program will contain it. The THC content in raw flowers, the buds of the plant, and cut plant material is limited to 30%. THC concentrations in extracted goods, tinctures, vape cartridges, edibles, etc. must not exceed 60%.

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