Mississippians could soon see ballot initiative aimed to legalize marijuana

Mississippians could soon see a ballot initiative aimed to fully legalize marijuana during the next general election.

During the past general election, Mississippians voted in droves for initiative 64, which allows regulated medical marijuana.

"I mean it really is time a lot of states are already ahead us there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be doing it," said David Nelms.

Some want to take it a step further. Dr. David Alan, the author of initiative 77, wants to fully legalize the possession, use, and cultivation of marijuana up to 99 plants.

Dr. Alan's reasoning behind it is to both decriminalize and research the plants potential medical benefits.

"The most important thing about initiative 77 is it allows doctors to study cannabis without any restriction from the medical board or police," said Dr. Allen.

Dr. Allen said that most doctors can not study study schedule 1 substances.

With initiative 77, he could experiment with CBD oil and other canabinoids with patient consent.

"There should be no argument against doctors studying a medical utility of cannabis, it’s ridiculous," said Dr. Allen.

Initiative 77 has a long way to go before making its way onto a general election ballot.

It still needs 106,000 signatures, so it is really up to Mississippians on whether initiative 77 survives.

"It’s not for me, I think for the state I think it would be a wise decision to move in that direction," said John Sanders.

"The country's been moving in that direction, it’s just nice to see Mississippi kind of not being at the very back of the back, up towards the middle and front, but yeah man I’m all for it," said David Nelms.