PINE BELT, Miss. (WDAM) – Less than two months remain until medical marijuana is expected to be in dispensaries across Mississippi.
Though it is still about seven weeks away, those wanting to have a medical card before the year change need to take heed.
“You have 60 days from the time you have your evaluation with us to complete your part of that online application to the Department of Health,” said Dr. Kirk Kinard, a pain medicine specialist. “There could be another two to four weeks that you wait for your card. So, it’s really not too early to do this.”
Kinard says a wide array of patients have already applied.
“The age range in the demographic is really not in a single box, It’s very wide open.” said Kinard.
Applicants include people like Austin Calhoun.
Calhoun is a Mississippi native with chronic lyme disease who fled for Colorado before medical marijuana was approved in Mississippi.
“I was roughly prescribed 16 prescription medications and none of them worked,” said Calhoun. “We decided to go to Colorado and end up trying a little bit of cannabis while I was out there.”
For Calhoun, the medical marijuana was life-changing.
“It was like being a whole new person or being back to my original self before I got sick,” said Calhoun. “I felt like a normal human being again.”
More information regarding qualifying and applications will be given Thursday by the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association.
The group will host a meeting at 5 p.m. at the Cochran Center at the University of Southern Mississippi.
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