Playing games with voters ? Mississippi legislators argue over medical marijuana rules Leah Willingham and Emily Wagster Pettus
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JACKSON, Miss. Mississippi legislators wrangled Wednesday over regulations for medical marijuana, with the House killing one bill and the Senate reviving the issue hours later by wedging it into a separate bill.
Voters in November approved Initiative 65, which authorizes a medical marijuana program. It got on the ballot through citizens petitions.
The constitutional amendment requires the state Health Department to create a program so that marijuana can be available later this year to people with “debilitating” medical conditions. The long list includes cancer, epilepsy and sickle cell anemia.
Mississippi legislators argue over medical marijuana rules
LEAH WILLINGHAM and EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS, Associated Press
March 10, 2021
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1of3House Ways and Means Committee chairman Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, right, and Rep. Clay Deweese, R-Oxford, confer on the floor of the House at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, March 9, 2021. Lawmakers have a Wednesday deadline for original floor action on general bills and constitutional amendments originating in the other House.Rogelio V. Solis/APShow MoreShow Less
2of3An unmasked Republican Rep. Dana Criswell of Olive Branch, left, sits alongside masked Republican colleague Joel Bomgar, of Madison, Monday, Aug. 10, 2020, as they listen to House Education Committee chairman Richard Beckett, unseen, explain the partial veto of the education budget bill in July by Gov. Tate Reeves, at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss. The House voted 109-7 to override Reeves s veto of the education bill,Rogelio V. Solis/APSh
Dozens of medical marijuana businesses and nonprofits are popping up around Mississippi even though the stateâs regulatory system wonât be ready for months, and despite the fact that the Mississippi Supreme Court might strike down the voter-approved program.
Companies canât legally grow, process or dispense medical pot until they obtain state licenses, which likely wonât be issued until August. But already more than 90 businesses and nonprofits have registered with the state or reserved a name, according to a recent review of Mississippi Secretary of State records.
Among them: Mississippi Marijuana Doctor, Cannabis Infused Solutions, Cloud 9 Cannabis, Delta Dank and Alien Ganja Farms.
House guts Senate medical marijuana bill, inserts Initiative 65 language thedmonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thedmonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.