LAUREL, Miss. (WDAM) – On Tuesday, the Jones County Board of Supervisors held a special work session to discuss issues concerning medical marijuana.
Board members had a lot of questions about the cultivation, sale, production and distribution of marijuana in the county, which currently has no zoning for growers and producers who may be looking to locate there. Eventually, the members decided to table the discussion until a later date.
Danielle Ashley is Chief Administrative Officer and Board Attorney and said there are a lot of unanswered questions members need in order to make the best decision for residents in the county.
“Today was just a discussion with the board member to talk about the decision they have to make,” Danielle said.
“There’s a lot of details they’ve requested to know and so between now and the time they decide which will be before May 3, they only have 90 days to make a decision,” she added, “They have a lot of questions that they want to be answered.”
Earlier this year, Mississippi became the 37th state to legalize medical marijuana, after years of effort by advocates to get the program approved.
Known as the “Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act”, the law permits the use of medical cannabis to treat certain debilitating medical conditions including cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, muscular dystrophy, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and more.
The law was effective immediately upon signing by Gov. Tate Reeves, although medical cannabis will not become available for months.
Medical cannabis products will include cannabis flowers, cannabis extracts, edible cannabis products, beverages, topical products, ointments, oils, tinctures and suppositories.
Medical cannabis will require written certification from a qualifying practitioner. The certification is good for a year unless the practitioner indicates a shorter period.
Patients between ages 18-23 generally must have written certifications from two different practitioners from separate medical practices to qualify. (There is an exception for those who registered before they were 18 and the homebound.)
Once the patient has the certification, they must then obtain a registry identification card from the Mississippi Department of Health.
The state health department has the ultimate oversight authority over the medical cannabis program.
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