On September 27, Mississippi lawmakers came to an agreement on a medical cannabis program for the state. This bill would replace the voter approved measure the Supreme Court overturned this past summer. Lawmakers spoke with Governor Tate Reeves, R, about calling a special session the following week to officially discuss medical cannabis and make it a law. Yet Governor Reeves hasn’t called for a special session. Now, lawmakers say Governor Reeves is intentionally not calling for a special session over some “unreasonable demands.”

Representative Lee Yancey, R, said, “We have brought forward a bill that many have said would be the best program in the country. We are ready to have a special session… An overwhelming number in the House and Senate are ready to pass this, and we have a majority of people in Mississippi who voted for us to pass this.”

Changes

Yancey said Governor Reeves has called for several, last-minute requests to the medical cannabis proposal. Lawmakers have come to agreements and have made changes to meet these new demands, including:

• Declining cannabis companies from receiving state taxpayer funded business incentives.
• Requiring the Department of Health to conduct background checks on caregivers dispensing cannabis to patients. 
• Increasing the amount of time state agencies have to issue marijuana licenses and permits from 90 days to 120 following the bill’s approval.

Conflict

However, this latest request is something lawmakers refuse to budge on. And it’s over a 0.7 gram decrease. 

In the bill, a medical cannabis unit is 3.5 grams, or ⅛ ounce. Yancey says this is the “industry standard” for medical cannabis across the legal states. Under the proposed bill, patients could purchase 8 units, or one total ounce, of smokable medical cannabis a week. This leads to a total of four ounces a month, which is close to what IM 65 originally proposed at five ounces a month. 

However, according to the state Health Officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the dosage unit should be reduced to 2.8 grams. According to Dr. Dobbs, the national content of THC has increased by 23 percent since 2015. Therefore, the amount of cannabis a patient can get must reduce by a similar amount. 

“An eighth of an ounce is an industry standard,” Yancey said. “Medical marijuana machines are calibrated on eighths of an ounce … We have told the governor, no, we are not going to change, that we are going to do just like 37 other states and the District of Columbia, and use the industry standard and allow people with debilitating conditions the same relief as other states with medical marijuana … We already would have one of the most conservative programs in the country.”

This is one area where lawmakers aren’t budging. “If there is any further delay, that will be squarely on the shoulders of the governor, rather than the Legislature,” Yancey added. 

Future

It is unclear where medical cannabis will end up in Mississippi. Governor Reeves and lawmakers are at a standstill over a special session. It seems the public must continue to wait for a response. When more information becomes available, we will update you with the latest. 

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