Members of the newly formed Mississippi Cannabis Patients Alliance met in Jackson last week to demand the governor fulfill a promise. Governor Tate Reeves said in September he would call a special session of the legislature if a medical marijuana bill was agreed upon by lawmakers. Legislators have done so, but Reeves has not announced plans for that session. Jackson resident John Travillion says it’s a natural option to treat the pain from his surgeries.
Travillion says “I believe that would help in assisting me to live a more peaceful life. My sanity insists with the pain and everything, so I just want to tap into things that assist with that.”
At an economic development event last week, Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson criticized the current medical marijuana bill. He says the bill would place too much demand on his office to oversee the security and distribution of products, and he shared examples of marijuana purchased legally in California being confiscated by police in Mississippi.
But Angie Calhoun, founder of MCPA, says that is not a common occurrence. Her son moved to Colorado for several years to receive medical marijuana treatments, and she says the program there has not spurred a large black market.
“The residents which were generally elderly people, they never complained about it, they were happy to have that program up and running,” says Calhoun. “You know and I actually read an article not long ago that said that the cannabis use among teenagers in Colorado has not increased ever since they have legalized recreational [marijuana use].”
A ballot initiative adopted by voters would have established a medical marijuana program this summer, but the constitutional amendment was overturned by the state Supreme Court.
