After receiving a devastating blow, Mississippi voters are calling for legal changes. And they’re calling for them now. Friday, the state’s Supreme Court overturned IM 65, which would have created a medical cannabis program for qualifying patients. About 74 percent of voters approved the measure, which is something unheard of in cannabis legalization this far.
Yet the Madison City Mayor challenged the bill, saying that the signature collection process was invalid. There’s no possible way for ⅕ of signatures to come from four districts. That’s the issue the lawsuit questioned. And what the Supreme Court upheld. The Supreme Court agreed. Voters are now calling for the impeachment of the justices who voted against IM 65 and are asking for Governor Reeve’s (R) to call for a special session. There, lawmakers can recreate IM 65 and pass it as written by voters.
Lawmaker Response
Many lawmakers are intrigued by the Supreme Court’s response. Governor Reeves hasn’t made any public announcement on the court’s ruling or the potential of a special session. Lawmakers around him have.
“We 100% believe in the right of the people to use the initiative and referendum process to express their views on public policy,” House Speaker Philip Gunn (R) said. “If the legislature does not act on an issue that the people of Mississippi want, then the people need a mechanism to change the law. I support the governor calling us into a special session to protect this important right of the people.”
Other supporters of a special session include the Senate President Pro Tem Dean Kirby (R), House Minority Leader Robert Johnson (D), and Secretary of State Michael Watson (R).
If Governor Reeve doesn’t call for a special session, the earliest medical cannabis could be discussed is during the next legislative session. The next session will start in 2022. Even then, it could be months before a vote happens. If a vote fails, then it will take to the ballot in 2022. This would be a whole two years after voters originally approved IM 65.
Public Outcry
Because of these delays, voters are practically begging the governor to call for a special session. A local polling company, Chism Strategies, took to the phones shortly after the Supreme Court’s ruling. They found some interesting results.
60 percent of voters, both Democrat and Republican, are in favor of a special session to discuss medical cannabis measures. Of those in support, 70 percent want the medical cannabis measure to have the exact same wording and meaning that IM 65 had that voters approved.
The most interesting point, however, was the last question that Chism Strategies asked. “A plurality of voters support impeachment of a State Supreme Court justice who voted to overturn the 2020 Medical Marijuana election results.”
Brad Chism of Chism Strategies expressed his surprise with how many Mississippians knew about the Supreme Court ruling. “It is a brush fire,” Chism said. “It crosses party lines…People are mad the court would do what they did.”
Future Implications
Not only does this Supreme Court ruling overturn IM 65, it also kills other measures currently collecting signatures. Other measures that died with the ruling last week include:
- Expanding Medicaid
- Enacting Early Voting
- Enacting Term Limits
- Legalizing Recreational Cannabis Use for Adults 21 and over
- Restoring the old flag design with the Confederate Flag symbol
With these measures killed, other measures passed since 2000 come into question. When the census changed the amount of districts Mississippi had from five to four, that violated these rules. Organizations are looking to see if measures should be challenged and rewritten.
Future
Whether the governor calls for a special session or not is unknown. With pressure from lawmakers and the general public over medical cannabis, it appears to be in the governor’s best interest to do so. As more information becomes available, we will update you with the latest.
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