OLIVE BRANCH, Miss. (WMC) – An owner of a medical marijuana dispensary filed a federal lawsuit challenging Mississippi Law.
Clarence Cocroft, the owner of Tru Source Medical Cannabis, teamed up with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to file the lawsuit on Tuesday.
The lawsuit aims to defend the First Amendment right of all Mississippians to advertise their legal businesses.
Coroft bought a few billboards in highly trafficked areas in northern Mississippi.
Because of the state’s ban, Coroft was forced to lease those billboards to other businesses that can legally advertise on them, including local casinos.
“Preventing someone from advertising his or her legal business violates the First Amendment,” said IJ Senior Attorney Ari Bargil. “The government simply has no interest in prohibiting a business from providing truthful information about its products to would-be customers.”
In 2022, Mississippi’s law legalized adult medical marijuana which was approved in 2020.
This allowed Clarence to open Tru Source, the state’s first Black-owned dispensary, earlier this year.
“Some people don’t know Mississippi has medical marijuana, and even if they do know about it, they might not know that Tru Source exists right here in Olive Branch. I want to help patients find the products they need for whatever illness they have, but not being able to advertise has made that almost impossible,” said Clarence. “It’s simply unfair that every other legal business in Mississippi is allowed to advertise, while I have to rely on word of mouth.”
However, other states with legal medical marijuana impose much less burdensome restrictions than Mississippi and its neighbors.
Click here to sign up for our newsletter!
Click here to report a spelling or grammar error. Please include the headline.
Copyright 2023 WMC. All rights reserved.
