Mississippi Takes Another Step To Legalize Medicinal Cannabis |

The long, drawn-out back-and-forth over a medical cannabis law in Mississippi achieved what could be a major breakthrough last week when members of the State House overwhelmingly passed the bill.

The bill passed the state house by a vote of 104 to 14, the Associated Press reported. Members of the state Senate passed the bill by a 46-5 vote last week, “but the House of Representatives made some changes,” according to the Associated Press, and now it’s up to senators to either accept those changes or introduce the legislation to the negotiating table.

“This law has certainly been under more scrutiny than any other law in my history,” said Republican House Representative Lee Yancey, as quoted by the Mississippi Clarion Ledger.

The Clarion Ledger said Yancey, the chair of the state House Drug Policy Committee, worked closely with GOP state Sen. Kevin Blackwell on the legislation throughout the summer months and into the fall.

Earlier this month, Blackwell submitted a 445-page bill, which was then referred to the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee for review by Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann.

According to the Clarion Ledger, Yancey made “three amendments” to the law passed by the state house last Wednesday, with the most notable treatment affecting the amount of cannabis a patient can procure, a key area of ​​disagreement between lawmakers and the Republican governor of Mississippi. Tate Reeves.

Blackwell’s bill allowed patients to purchase up to 3.5 grams of cannabis per day, but Yancey’s version allows purchases of just three ounces at a time.

According to Clarion Ledger, a patient “can still buy 3.5 grams of marijuana at a time, but only six times a week.”

It’s unclear if that will be enough to placate Reeves, who has said he would prefer the limit to be lowered to 2.7 grams.

The Clarion Ledger said that Yancey is “taking the number only as a starting point, and he expects lawmakers to increase the amount of marijuana a person can buy each month for years to come.”

“This is an attempt to start small and grow, rather than start big and scale back,” Yancey said.

In another notable change, according to Clarion Ledger, the House-passed bill “places the entire program under the Mississippi State Department of Health and Human Services,” while the Senate version mandated the Departments of Agriculture and Commerce to “oversee the licensing and inspection and oversight of cannabis cultivation facilities, processing facilities, transportation.” – and cannabis disposal facilities in the state.”

Nearly 70 percent of Mississippi voters in the 2020 vote approved a proposal to legalize medical cannabis in the state for patients suffering from a variety of conditions including cancer, epilepsy or other seizure disorders, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease , muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis.

But the law’s path to passage was troubled. Last year, the Mississippi Supreme Court struck down the ballot initiative, citing a formal error that rendered it unconstitutional.

Following that ruling, state legislatures attempted to replace the canceled initiative with a new medical marijuana law, but that too was hampered by delays.

Legislatures introduced a bill in September, but Reeves had concerns about the proposal and never called a special session to debate and pass the law.

“I am confident that when we get the details of some outstanding issues, we will hold a special session of the Legislature,” Reeves said at a news conference in October. “Again, we have made great strides in working with our legislative leaders.”

Now that regular session is underway, the bill returns to the Senate — but the ball largely remains in Reeves’ court.