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After Gov. Tate Reeves (R) of Mississippi threatened to veto proposed legislation, the Mississippi House of Representatives passed a medical marijuana legalization bill on Wednesday with a 104–14 vote. Before putting the measure to a vote, concessions were made to address concerns raised by the governor. The bill must now go back to the Mississippi Senate to approve the changes. 

However, the 445-page SB 2095, passed last week by the Mississippi Senate in a 47 to 5 vote flatly rejected the Governor’s demands. 

While it’s still not clear if the governor is on board with the revised bill, he stated recently that he felt the legislation was improving. If all parties do come to a consensus and the bill is signed, it will usher in a state-regulated medical marijuana program.

What’s in the 2022 Mississippi medical marijuana bill?

Both the Senate and House versions of the bill specify about two dozen medical conditions which would qualify Mississippi residents for a medical marijuana card. 

Approved patients would be permitted to purchase the equivalent of 3.5 grams of marijuana or 1 gram of cannabis concentrate per day. It would also impose a maximum monthly limit of 3 ounces (negotiated down from 3.5 ounces in the Senate bill). Patients would not be permitted to grow marijuana. 

Qualifying conditions include cancer, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, muscular dystrophy, glaucoma, spastic quadriplegia, HIV, AIDS, hepatitis, Alzheimer’s, sickle-cell anemia, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, neuropathy, spinal cord disease, or severe injury. Also included would be any chronic medical conditions or any medical treatments that produce severe nausea, cachexia or wasting, seizures, severe or persistent muscle spasms, or chronic pain.

In terms of the number of growers and processors that would be licensed, there would be no set limit. However, local municipalities will have the ability to opt out of the program with the approval of voters or otherwise impose zoning restrictions on cannabis businesses. Under the House bill, cannabis cultivators and processors will not be restricted to areas zoned for agricultural and industrial use but would be permitted to locate in commercial-zoned areas.

Marijuana flower would be limited to 30 percent THC while concentrates would be limited to 60 percent. 

One of the more overarching amendments was written into the bill by the House Drug Policy Committee. Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Andy Gipson (R) rightfully complained last year that the state’s agriculture regulators were not interested in taking on a medical program. A last-minute amendment has assigned regulatory duties to the Mississippi Department of Health, instead.

All medical marijuana in Mississippi would be taxed at a wholesale rate of 5 percent. And dispensaries would be required to charge state sales tax.

Will it pass?

Mississippi voters passed a medical marijuana legalization initiative in 2020. However, the ballot measure was later overturned by the state Supreme Court for procedural reasons. It’s now up to lawmakers in the state to make the program happen. 

If the Senate passes the revised bill and the governor signs off on the bill, Mississippi medical marijuana cardholders might be able to purchase medicine before the year is over. There’s also a chance the Senate could nix the amendments as they have the votes needed to override a veto by the governor. 

Sen. Brice Wiggins (R), chairman of the Judiciary Committee Division A has said that lawmakers have a duty to deliver on the will of the voters regardless of the fact that the state Supreme Court invalidated the measure (for purely procedural reasons). In an interview with Y’all Politics, Wiggins said it wouldn’t surprise him if the legislature voted to override a gubernatorial veto.

Rep. Lee Yancey (R), who chairs the House Drug Policy Committee, has been working with the bill’s lead sponsor, Sen. Kevin Blackwell (R). 

Yancey spoke in the House chamber saying: 

“When I got involved in this bill, I said, ‘How can we build a wall around this program so the people who get it are the people who need it the most, and only the people who need it the most? This is not for everybody out on the street. This is not for a bunch of kids. This is for hurting people with debilitating conditions.”

Advocates for cannabis policy reform in the state said the Senate bill offered a good compromise between the plan that was approved by voters in 2020 and the more conservative approach preferred by the governor and certain lawmakers.

During a floor session in the Senate last week, Blackwell produced two bags of hemp on the Senate floor — one containing the daily limit of 3.5 grams, and another containing a full ounce. He criticized what he described as the “paranoid, Reefer Madness, Chicken Little belief expressed by a few skeptics that if we pass a medical cannabis bill, the streets of Mississippi will be flooded by pot-smoking zombies.” 

With the legislation now coming down to the wire, it looks like it’s going to be a real nailbiter. We will keep our readers posted on further developments.