Mississippi Senators probe reality of medical marijuana legislation

The road to establishing a medical marijuana program in Mississippi has a ways to go if Thursday's state Senate hearing was any indication.

Ken Newberger, executive director of the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association and one of the organizers behind the recently nullified Initiative 65, told members of the senate's Committee on Public Health and Welfare "there are some major gaps" in what voters approved last November and what is actually needed to create a viable medical marijuana program.

"Large parts of Initiative 65 need to stay," Newburger said after the hearing. "The things that (Initiative) 65 got wrong are more procedural."

Initiative 65, approved by 74 percent of voters in November, was overturned by the Mississippi Supreme Court last month, with justices citing the state's outdated initiative process. 

Specifically, the initiative did not address potential zoning concerns, how tax revenue generated might be used or if the Mississippi State Department of Health was adequately equipped to oversee such a program by itself, Newburger said.

"Putting everything under the health department was a short-sided mistake," Newburger told senators.

However, Newburger said the government should honor the core tenets of the initiative a majority of Mississippians voted for: Broad access to medical marijuana for all eligible state residents under a self-sustaining, free-market system. Thirty-eight states have legalized marijuana for medicinal use.

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What happened at the hearing

Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, the committee chair, said Thursday's hearing was a first step toward establishing a medical program via statute now that the state's ballot initiative system has been rendered useless. 

Senators heard long testimony from State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs and Larry Walker, a pharmacologist who is the director emeritus of the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi. Both men centered the discussion on what a medical program would look like, with Walker expressing skepticism about the realities of Initiative 65.

"If it's going to be a medical program, make it medical," Walker said.

Some senators were concerned about how much marijuana a person should be allowed to possess at a time. The regulations proposed by the Mississippi State Department of Health allows for a patient to purchase 2.5 ounces every 14 days.

"You could get your whole family high every day and still have enough to sell 40 or 50 joints," Walker said about the 2.5-ounce limit. He held up a bag filled with 1 ounce of dried parsley for reference.

Still, there is a legitimate medical use for cannabis, Walker told senators. 

Many senators expressed concern about whether doctors would even feel comfortable prescribing marijuana, given the shortage of clinical studies of its long-term effects on people. Initiative 65 called for doctors to certify patients as being able to purchase marijuana for medicinal use, not as a recurring prescription with designated dosage amounts. 

"Is that why they went to medical school?" Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, asked Dobbs. "Are they there to certify things or are they there to treat patients?"

Wiggins, in a line of questioning to Newburger, said the state might as well make its medical program a recreational one, based on the text of Initiative 65. 

"What I've heard in other states is that they've gone to medical, and it then it ended up being recreational," Wiggins said. "So why don't we just jump to recreational?"

"I can't answer that question," Newburger said, "I'm just here to talk about how a medical program comes to fruition."

Also testifying was Shari Veazey, executive director of the Mississippi Municipal League, a non-profit organization representing nearly 300 villages, towns and cities in the state.

Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, asked Veazey if a medical marijuana program might be more palatable to Mississippi municipalities if they were given the option to hold a local referendum to opt out of any marijuana legalization. Veazey said she would have to consult her board of directors, of which there are at least 100, but they would be more likely to get on board if presented that option. 

Deaundrea Delaney, owner of four area hemp stores and a daily user of cannabis to treat her hypothyroidism, said the legislature should pass a bill that reflects the will of the voters in respect to Initiative 65.

"Our people are smart enough to make an intelligent decision regarding this program, Delaney said.

No action can be taken on medical marijuana in Mississippi until the legislative session next year, unless Gov. Tate Reeves calls a special session.