Mississippi’s brand-new medical marijuana program is under way. According to the Mississippi Today website, some elements of it remain a work in progress.
“Dozens of licensed cultivators have about 80,000 marijuana plants growing,” the website reported. “Around 1,100 patients have signed up for medical marijuana, and 96 doctors or nurse practitioners are working to certify them.”
However, the story noted that a number of small growers are complaining that a large out-of-state company is being allowed to bend the rules of the program. Further, the Mississippi Department of Health, which is overseeing medical marijuana, so far has only three employees assigned to the program, and none of them are investigators, who conceivably would verify that everyone’s playing by the rules.
The department, it should be added, is trying to fill 25 jobs for its medical marijuana oversight duties, including three investigators.
This is sort of a frontier commerce, where some operators may be tempted to see what they can get away with. The Department of Health must walk a line between proper enforcement and overzealous penalties.
No doubt there will be mistakes along the way. Mississippi can use the experiences of several other marijuana-growing states to minimize its own errors, but new and controversial products rarely begin smoothly. Think of how the state refused to tax internet sales for two decades, giving online merchants a huge and unfair competitive price advantage.
Health Department officials say they are in a four-month provisional period for medical marijuana, giving businesses a chance to correct violations without fining them or calling in law enforcement.
So far, the biggest medical marijuana controversy appears to involve a company called Mockingbird Cannabis. Mississippi Today recently published a story in which other marijuana growers complained that the company has been allowed to grow marijuana plants in greenhouses and in a clear plastic-covered “hoop house.” Other growers also claim that Mockingbird has been allowed to grow in two locations 12 miles apart, while no one else has been allowed to use more than one site.
The director of the marijuana program said the company has a license that allows it to grow in multiple locations. However, the Health Department cited one Mockingbird location for being out of compliance with regulations that forbid the use of greenhouses and plastic walls. It also found lax security at the property, and some of their plants lacked the “seed to sale” tracking tag the state requires.
The concerns are obvious. Medical marijuana is a new industry, and it should begin by being open to both large and small operators. Perhaps more important, the state needs to allay any fears that some of the marijuana grown for medical treatment — which voters approved by a 3-to-1 margin — does not wind up being sold illegally for recreational purposes.
— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal
