Mississippi is not moving ahead with medical cannabis, as the governor has yet to approve a special session to discuss. There’s a standoff over medical cannabis in Mississippi, with the governor and state lawmakers still at odds over provisions in the proposed legislation. It is up to Republican Governor Tate Reeves to call a special legislative session that is necessary to pass a bill that would implement a new medical marijuana law in the state––something Mississippi voters approved at the ballot last year. But Reeves has yet to give the green light to such a session, saying Monday that there are portions of the bill written by Mississippi legislators that he simply cannot get behind. Mississippi Public Broadcasting reported that Reeves cited one part of the proposed bill that “forbid the Department of Public Safety from having a role in the state’s potential medical marijuana industry.” “Clearly, I wasn’t going to agree to that, so we’ve made some necessary improvements to the bill, but we haven’t gotten to the point where I am comfortable yet in ensuring that we have a program that is truly ‘medical mariuana’ that has strict rules in place,” Reeves said, as quoted by Mississippi Public Broadcasting. The outlet reported that Reeves said he is “in talks with lawmakers about adding additional restrictions on how much marijuana someone can purchase if they do qualify for the program,” and that absent those restrictions, “the state may be closer to having a recreational marijuana industry,” something to which he is opposed.
420 Intel – Marijuana Industry News, 11/02/2021 20:00:00