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Mississippi citizens will not be able to organize and vote on issues using ballot initiatives again any time soon after a Mississippi Senate leader allowed legislation that would have revived the option to die on calendar due to multiple concerns.
Medical marijuana came a step closer to becoming a reality in Mississippi this afternoon as lawmakers in the Mississippi House of Representatives voted to approve a bill that would legalize it for some patients in the Magnolia State.
A large bipartisan majority of Mississippi senators voted to approve a medical-marijuana program that would allow patients to receive up to 3.5 ounces a month for treatment. The debate was not without frivolity.
Of all the priorities in the near future for the short session, none has been more comprehensively discussed, tweaked, debated and recalibrated than the state’s long-awaited medical-marijuana plan. With a supportive majority across both the House and Senate, only Gov. Tate Reeves’ opposition threatens the plan’s adoption.
A group of Mississippi plaintiffs hoping to revive Mississippi’s citizen-led ballot initiative process took their case to federal court today.
Christine Loftin believes medical marijuana could save the life of her son, Bryan, who has mitochondrial disease. But more than a year after Mississippians voted to enact a medical marijuana law, Gov. Tate Reeves has not called a special session to create a program.
Gov. Tate Reeves is not quite ready to call a special session to establish a medical marijuana program for Mississippi, but a session is likely soon.
A group of voters is asking the Mississippi Supreme Court to allow them to intervene for a rehearing in Watson v. Butler and to reconsider its decision to strike down Initiative 65, the voter-approved medical marijuana law, and to revive the state’s ballot initiative law, which a 6-3 majority of justices nullified as part of its ruling.
State leaders are considering the prospect of a special session to repair Mississippi’s ballot initiative law after the state Supreme Court nullified it earlier this month in a decision that also killed the voter-approved medical-marijuana law. But even if lawmakers come to the rescue to quell widespread voter anger, some will use the opportunity to weaken direct democracy in the Magnolia State, one Jones County Republican is warning.
Mississippi Journalism and Education Group is a a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media organization (EIN 85-1403937) for the state, devoted to going beyond partisanship and publishing solutions journalism for the Magnolia State and all of its people.
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The Mississippi Free Press is a project of the Mississippi Journalism and Education Group, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit journalism organization (EIN 85-1403937).