Ronnie Musgrove served as the 62nd Governor of Mississippi from 2000 to 2004. He was born in Tocowa, Miss. and grew up in Batesville. Musgrove served as a two-term state senator and lieutenant governor before taking office. He has served as chair or vice chair on the National Governors Association, the Southern Regional Education Board, the Southern States Energy Board, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and the Executive Committee for the Democratic Governors Association. After leaving office, he returned to his law practice and has remained active in public service.
Why did you decide to open a medical marijuana testing facility?
Since I have been in office, I have had the opportunity to chair the advisory committee on Rural Health in America, which advises the Secretary of Health and Human Services in D.C. It is a committee that is made up of 21 people across the country that has a focus on rural health, so I have spent a lot of time looking at healthcare providers and healthcare options. While I don’t have a background in healthcare, I have learned a lot by being in office, by being a part of Medicaid, mental health and other aspects of healthcare delivery in Mississippi. To me, it was a natural progression to look at other options for healthcare and medical marijuana. To me, it offered another opportunity for people to have an option of dealing with pain or dealing with aspects of a debilitating disease where they needed some help and comfort.
My wife unfortunately was diagnosed with leukemia in late 2020 and spent most of 2021 in Mayo in Minnesota before she passed away in September of last year. There were a number of occasions we talked about her potentially taking medical marijuana as opposed to the opioids or other medicine she was having to take to deal with the pain and issues there. It is something that all of us have had the unfortunate opportunity to deal with when friends and family have pain in their life. It was an opportunity for me to be involved with something that I thought had some great potential to people with debilitating diseases.
Why did you choose to be involved in the testing facility aspect of medical marijuana?
Quentin Whitwell and I have known each other for quite some time, and he has been the CEO of a hospital in Batesville, which is my hometown area. He is also involved in a couple more hospitals, so he has a background in testing and toxicology and those kinds of things. When Initiative 65 was first being presented and the regulations were being talked about, testing was at the backside of the importance list. We started talking about that to a number of people and, all of a sudden, everybody realized the importance – not just because we said it but, in looking across the country, the testing aspect is what makes sure that, when people have been certified to take medical marijuana and when they get medical marijuana, people are buying what they were certified for or needed. I think that it is important to have a safe product and to have a product that actually is what it is represented to be. So, it was a natural progression for us to be involved in that aspect of the medical marijuana area.
Where will the testing facility be located?
It will be located in Holly Springs, Mississippi. So, it will be North Mississippi. While no one really knows or can project, I feel like you will probably have a testing facility in North Mississippi, one or two in Central Mississippi, and probably one or two on the Coast. That is pure speculation on my part. I just feel like, given the dynamics as I understand them, that is probably what we are looking at. Since I am a North Mississippi person, it made complete sense to us.
What is your timeline, and when do you anticipate being open?
The testing is toward the end of the cycle for cultivators and processors, so we want to be open probably by September 1 so you are still in the process of being open before the crops are harvested. That way you can work with growers, cultivators, and others in showing them how the testing works and how it works hand-and-hand with what they are doing. There is also a mediation process in case certain plants or flowers fail testing.That is the kind of help you want to be able to provide and work with. That is the timeframe we are looking at.
How will your testing facility be a benefit to the state?
Over 1,800 people have signed in and created an account to be involved in medical marijuana, and it shows you that there is a healthcare side of medical marijuana and there is an economic impact to medical marijuana. Our facility will hire somewhere between 10 to 15 people total, so that is just one part of a much bigger picture in that state. When you’re looking at facilities all across the state, whether you talk about growers, dispensers, processors, transports and others, I believe collectively you are looking at a significant economic impact for the state.
Do you think cities and counties who are opting out are making the wrong or correct decision?
Each board of supervisors or city aldermen that make these decisions obviously do so with the information they have in front of them and with their constituency and how they feel like they need to do business in their particular area. I might say though at the same time even in the counties and the cities that have opted out, the vote count there was basically just as strong as it was statewide. So, you are looking at a process that, in my opinion, a number of these areas will have reverse referendums where people will put the issue on the ballot and have another election in those areas to overturn the decision that was made by the local officials. I believe that with a number of them that is what will happen.
As it relates to the economic impact to the city or to the county, the citizens in the county can still go to another county or another city that has not opted out and still be able to, upon seeing a doctor and being certified, get medical marijuana. However, the counties and the cities that opted out don’t get to share in the sales tax of the sales that would have happened in their city or in their county. So, economically, they will be disadvantaged but the people within the county, even though it is going to cost them to have to travel, can go to another county where the county has not opted out.
Why do you think it is important for people in Mississippi to have access to medical marijuana?
When you look at the description of the debilitating diseases that are listed there, it is important for people to have an option for treating those diseases and the pain that comes with them with another form of medicine that helps relieve and helps the person deal with that pain. When you are looking at the choice of medical marijuana or opioids with their history that we have seen recently, to me, it is a no brainer to be able to have that as an option for healthcare purposes. I think it is important that people have those kinds of choices that they can treat those debilitating diseases because of the pain that is associated with them. Having unfortunately watched Melody – it is not an easy thing to watch and see your loved one in that kind of pain and situation and any kind of option that makes sense and is safe and good ought to be on the table for people with that kind disease to be able to use.
You said this is an opportunity for Mississippi not to be last – what do you mean by that?
When you have served in office and know that one of the main statements by other governors around you is ‘Thank God for Mississippi’, then that is a completely negative connotation to say ‘We know Mississippi is going to be behind us.’ As a person from Mississippi and a person who has been fortunate enough to lead the state, that is not the aspect I like to hear about Mississippi. This is a chance, in my opinion, for us not to be last even though, in my opinion, all 50 states will eventually adopt medical marijuana. We will be in a position of not being first but being in the 30s. We will have made the step to be in front of some of our competing states. I think that is a positive for our state.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
In Mississippi, I am proud that people had a chance to vote and express their support or opposition to a provision like medical marijuana. I will be glad when the legislature will put the initiative and referendum back into law where people can express their position when the legislature of the state chooses not to address an issue. I think that is awfully important, and this is a prime example of where the legislation and state leaders had a chance to address this issue for a number of years, they did not, and then the people had a chance to speak on it. I believe whatever percentage you look at, everybody has to agree that an overwhelming majority of our state expressed a positive opinion of medical marijuana. So, it does matter when people have a chance to voice their opinion and to do so by casting a vote. As a result, I am glad that the people had a chance to speak, and I’m glad that it was able to be put into law to allow the people of Mississippi who have debilitating diseases to use medical marijuana.
The last thing I would say is that the Mississippi Department of Health, I believe, is entitled to a lot of accolades here. They have dealt with something that they didn’t ask for and had no particular background or training in, but they have risen to the occasion and have met the challenge. In my opinion, they have done a very good job of dealing with the regulations that come along with an area like medical cannabis, and I think they are to be commended.
