As city officials continue to weigh their options for participating in Mississippi’s forthcoming medical cannabis program, the state has struck a five-year deal with Tyler Technologies Inc. for its licensing process.

A Plano, Texas-based company, Tyler’s NIC Licensing Solution (NLS) is a government licensing platform designed specifically for the cannabis industry, according to the company’s press release announcing the deal.

That NLS platform features:

patient/caregiver registration;practitioner registration;agent (employee) credentialing; and business licensing across all business types.

It also provides a single unified platform for all cannabis licensing needs within the state.

“We are excited to work with the Mississippi Department of Health and the Mississippi Department of Revenue to license Mississippi’s statewide medical cannabis program,” said Lee Tompkins, vice president of licensing for Tyler’s NIC Division. “Our licensing and cannabis-industry expertise, combined with our equally immense understanding of Mississippi state government, makes Tyler’s NIC team the most uniquely qualified provider for Mississippi’s cannabis licensing needs.”

Specifically, the Mississippi Department of Revenue is responsible for licensing medical cannabis dispensaries in the state. The department has until the first week of July (150 days from Gov. Tate Reeves’ signing of the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act) to begin that licensing process.

According to the Revenue Department, first-year licensees must pay a one-time $15,000 application fee and a $25,000 annual license fee.

Meanwhile, the Mississippi Department of Health is responsible for licensing medical cannabis patients and practitioners, as well as cannabis cultivation, processing and testing facilities, and waste disposal and transportation entities. The department will begin that application process in June.

In addition to its upcoming work with Mississippi, Tyler’s NLS provides cannabis-related licensing solutions in Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey and West Virginia, processing more than 1.5 million applications across 1 million registered users, according to the company press release.

Aside from its cannabis licensing contract, Tyler has provided Mississippi’s government technology solutions for more than 11 years, with that work now extending to roughly 100 agencies through more than 340 services.

In 2021, Mississippi government websites served more than 6.5 million citizens and securely processed more than 1.46 million digital government transactions totaling more than $151 million, according to the release. ]]>