Legislative negotiators and leaders have agreed on a draft of medical marijuana legislation, and are anticipated to ask Gov. Tate Reeves as early as Friday to call the Legislature into special session, sources close to the negotiations said Thursday.

Legislative leaders on Thursday released some details of the proposal — which had been kept close to the vest for months — such as that cities and counties will be allowed to “opt out” of having medical marijuana cultivation or dispensaries, although local voters can override this. 

Negotiations have dragged on throughout the summer on crafting a medical marijuana program to replace one passed by Mississippi voters in November but shot down in May by the state Supreme Court on a constitutional technicality.

The storyline of the summer has been that House and Senate negotiators are close, closer — even very, very close — to having a deal on a medical marijuana program, for which Gov. Tate Reeves could call the Legislature into special session to pass.

But as summer slips toward fall, those mostly closed-door negotiations continue with scant details on the particulars or hang-ups, and… still no deal nor special session.

Hemp processors working to add hemp to infrastructure

PRENTISS, Miss. (WDAM) - Hemp is a crop commonly known to be smoked. However, Mississippi’s only hemp processing plant is working on more than just ways to smoke it. They want to make a major part of the state’s infrastructure.

“We are looking at taking cement and concrete that already exists down in Mississippi and in putting hemp into,” says Eric Sorenson, owner of the processing plant. “This block here has 25% hemp in it. It makes it’s still strong, and it can be made here in Mississippi.”

Sorenson has been working with his partner, Isaiah Byrd, to create a mixture called “hempcrete.”

Chairman Bryan says he doesn’t intend on calling any additional hearings regarding medical marijuana. 

On Wednesday, the Mississippi Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee met to hear from a series of speakers as the lawmakers continue to gather information in preparation for a medical marijuana bill to implement a program in the state.

The committee heard testimonies from:

• Lynn Parry, American Medical Association’s task force on cannabis
• Jessica Rice, Executive Director of Mississippi Cannabis Trade Association
• Cedrick Anderson and Roderick Woullard, the Mississippi Minority Cannabis Association
• Andrew Brisbo, Executive Director of the Marijuana Regulatory Agency in Michigan

Sen. Hob Bryan

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.

Can you imagine a place where over 300,000 voters overwhelmingly pass a law only to have 7 governing elites overturn it with a bogus lawsuit? 

Welcome to Mississippi. 

That Mississippi’s medical cannabis program appears to have been sunk just prior to it starting hasn’t sat well with the state’s voters.

As we reported earlier this week, a voter-supported initiative to amend the state’s constitution to allow qualified patients with debilitating medical conditions to use medical marijuana has been cancelled due to a technicality with more wide-ranging ramifications.

Chism Strategies has carried out a poll since, gauging the mood of 905 Mississippi voters on the decision by the Mississippi Supreme Court to invalidate Initiative 65.

Here’s some of what it found.

That Mississippi’s medical cannabis program appears to have been sunk just prior to it starting hasn’t sat well with the state’s voters.

As we reported earlier this week, a voter-supported initiative to amend the state’s constitution to allow qualified patients with debilitating medical conditions to use medical marijuana has been cancelled due to a technicality with more wide-ranging ramifications.

Chism Strategies has carried out a poll since, gauging the mood of 905 Mississippi voters on the decision by the Mississippi Supreme Court to invalidate Initiative 65.

Here’s some of what it found.

What looked like a major victory for proponents of medical marijuana was turned around after the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that the process of bringing it up for a public vote was flawed.

Voters overwhelmingly said, ‘Yes’ to Initiative 65, but that now apparently doesn’t matter.

“It’s just a matter of switching seeds. Same growing process, same techniques,” Geary said.

But Geary will have to stick with the hemp growing operation now that the Supreme Court struck down the measure that was approved overwhelmingly by voters last fall.

It looks like hopes of Mississippi’s voter-supported medical cannabis program kicking off this year have been dashed by a Supreme Court decision.

In November last year, a ballot initiative in Mississippi to legalise medical cannabis was successful, with 74% of voters supporting it. Initiative 65 would amend the state’s constitution to allow qualified patients with debilitating medical conditions certified by a doctor to use medical marijuana sourced from dispensaries – and there would be no limit to the number of dispensaries that could set up in the state.