Lawmakers working on a proposal to bring a medical marijuana program to Mississippi plan to have a draft of the legislation ready later this summer, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said Tuesday.
“I think we’ll have something that we can have serious discussions about, hopefully relatively soon,” the Republican governor said.
Reeves addressed the issue of medical marijuana in Mississippi after he was asked about it by reporters during an unrelated news conference about a new occupational licensing law going into effect this week.
The state Supreme Court ruled in May that a voter-approved medical marijuana initiative is void because Mississippi’s initiative process is outdated.
Medical marijuana advocates were outraged after Initiative 65, a state constitutional amendment approved by voters in November, was thrown out. It would have required the Health Department to create a program to make marijuana available to people with “debilitating” medical conditions. The long list included cancer, epilepsy and sickle cell anemia.