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.
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.
With immense public pressure—and scorn—following the decision to scrap a wildly successful ballot initiative and the entire process alongside it, it seems likely that Mississippians will have access to some form of initiative and referendum process by the end of next year. But both the reasons for the initiative’s return in the 1990s and the explanation for the Legislature’s failure to adapt the process after the state lost its fifth district remain a subject of debate.
A Lafayette County drug unit has lost at least $34,000 that its agents seized during busts and arrests targeting local residents and University of Mississippi students, including for crimes involving marijuana. Government documents show that local officials have known since at least 2016 that the funds were missing—a fact that remained hidden from the public until now. Federal investigators suspect the funds may have been stolen.
A large majority of Mississippians have voted to legalize medical marijuana. With more than 70% of votes counted as of 11 p.m., about 67% of the state’s voters have opted to legalize medicinal weed with votes for Initiative 65.
Initiative 65 is backed by a Mississippi-based organization whose steering committee includes current and former legislators from both major parties, board-certified physicians, pharmacists, law enforcement officers and military veterans, among others. If there is any industry that profits from marijuana, it is our nation’s criminal justice system.
Former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is helping a political action committee that wants to stop voters from approving Initiative 65, which would legalize medical marijuana statewide.
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