After voters passed a medical cannabis legalization initiative on Election Day, Liz Sharlot, communications director for the Mississippi State Department of Health, told the Daily Journal that the department is in the “planning stages” to develop the state’s medical cannabis program.
Initiative 65, which passed with 74% of the vote, according to the news outlet, gives the department until July 1, 2021, to establish regulations to implement the program. Business licenses and patient ID cards must be issued by Aug. 15, 2021, the Daily Journal reported.
Sharlot told the news outlet that the department is currently reviewing the various factors needed to roll out the program.
“We understand the public interest, and as more details become available, the information will be publicly released and posted on our website,” she said.
Initiative 65 outlines 23 qualifying conditions for Mississippi’s medical cannabis program, according to the Daily Journal, and once a doctor certifies a patient for the program, he or she can purchase a medical cannabis ID card from the health department at a to-be-determined cost that cannot exceed $50.
The Mississippi State Department of Health must license treatment centers to distribute medical cannabis to registered patients, although it has not yet outlined rules for the licensing process, the Daily Journal reported.
The department may create an advisory committee to help create the regulations for Mississippi’s medical cannabis program, according to the news outlet.
