Cities around the Jackson metro area, such as Gluckstadt, Ridgeland and Brandon, have opted out of allowing the distribution, cultivation, and processing sales of medical marijuana during the 90 day window to do so after the legalization in the state of Mississippi. Executive Director of the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association Ken Newburger said these cities are missing out on opportunities and going against what the people of Mississippi voted in favor of.
He has spent the last eight or so months waking up everyday and trying to get the bill for medical marijuana legalization passed in Mississippi. Since the bill was passed, Newburger now works with the Mississippi Department of Health to help with the rules and regulations process. He also works with the association’s members on any issues that may arise by connecting them with resources and answering questions.
“I just think that medical marijuana is right, and that’s how I got involved with the campaign,” Newburger said. “There are patients that are suffering. (Medical marijuana) is just right.”
Newburger worked on the Initiative 65 campaign and traveled throughout the state. As he did, he became more and more invested in making sure the goal was achieved because he met so many patients that were affected by not having access to medical marijuana.
“It is not everybody, but it seems like everybody has a story where their son or daughter needed this, their brother has PTSD from serving our country, or their grandmother or grandfather had cancer and couldn’t eat for six or seven weeks throughout an intense chemotherapy treatment,” Newburger said. “All of these different stories cumulate together, and I have just become a huge believer in getting to know patients who need this.”
When legislation instituted an opt out process in the bill for cities and counties, Newburger said he expected cities would opt out. However, it saddens him that he sees them doing so.
“It is really sad that these cities are so fearful of a legal and highly regulated industry that they want to push their patients to go elsewhere,” Newburger said.
He stated that he believes the biggest reason for cities saying no to medical marijuana inside their city lines is fear.
“I think it is mostly fear of the industry,” Newburger said. “There is really only one state that gets cited. Sometimes you hear California but usually you hear people cite Oklahoma as this horror story.”
Newburger said Oklahoma has become a bad example of a medical marijuana legalized state because the barriers to entry in the industry are so low. While this can be helpful for states like Mississippi that have rural areas and is small business oriented, it left Oklahoma without a seed to sale tracking system that is implemented to follow the life of the plant.
“You don’t know exactly where it came from or where it is going,” Newburger said. “There is a lot of large outdoor growth that is very hard to track where all those plants go once they are grown. There is a certain amount of unknowns and worry that things are going out the backdoor. We have seen evidence that has actually happened in Oklahoma so that is why it is such a bad way to do things. It did not start from the very highly regulated point that Mississippi is going to start at.”
Newburger said Mississippi legislators absolutely took precautions to make sure that would not happen in Mississippi. He said this is part of why the bill took so long to draft.
“Legislation wanted to make sure they curbed against everything they possibly could to not end up like Oklahoma, and I think they did a great job,” Newburger said. “I think it is sad that our legislators put so much work in to curb the things that we see in other states that are bad and our cities don’t want to get the legislation’s bill that took months – really years – to craft a chance. That is really what makes me so sad about it.”
As far as missed opportunities for the cities, Newburger said the first of capital expenses of investment in their cities.
“Statewide, we anticipate somewhere around $350 million of annual revenue sales at the end of a mature market, which is somewhere four to five years in the future,” Newburger said.
That number won’t necessarily change even with cities opting out because that business can go elsewhere in the state, Newburger said. He said the number of patients won’t change, and those patients aren’t going to leave the state anymore to get access to medical marijuana when they can go to the next city over. The cities will just lose out on that income.
“That’s the easy first thing they’re missing out on, but they’re really missing out on the ability to help facilitate what people are asking for,” Newburger said. “Patients and the people of Mississippi voted overwhelmingly for medical marijuana.”
Newburger said, by opting out, the cities say “We understand you want this, but we don’t want to help you get it.”
“It can’t be stated enough that the whole purpose of this program is to make sure that patients get medicine,” Newburger said. “The Department of Health is combing through state after state to determine what the best way to keep this safe and effective for Mississippi is and making patients move around excessively to get medicine is just unfair to patients.”
