Mississippi cities, counties can opt out of medical marijuana business

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Cities and counties across Mississippi are making the decision about whether they will allow medical marijuana businesses to set up shop.

Brandon Mayor Butch Lee said the city is still trying to decide what to do about the issue.

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“It is a short fuse, but one that has been a topic of discussion for a year now,” Lee said.

Gov. Tate Reeves signed the measure into law, which gives cities and counties until June 1 to either opt out of allowing it in their limits, or allow it to come there to do business – and with that, comes a host of zoning questions.

“It is more complicated than growing indoors. It is more complicated than dispensing. There is also a third element that comes to mind, and that is laboratory testing. So, we have been approached by a couple of people about labs, which wouldn’t be dispensing or growing,” Lee said.

There is a list of medical marijuana businesses that will handle indoor growing, dispensing, testing, transportation and disposals. Some are already setting up their business footprints in Hinds and Madison counties before the state issues its regulations.

“We are going to look at the law and see what it says, and until we get the chance to break it down as a board, we will make that decision there,” said Rankin County Supervisor Daniel Cross.

Cross said a lot of government agencies are still trying to understand their options and the impact of the new law that is quickly approaching.

“I think the confusion comes from, they are not sure of all the benefits from the medical marijuana industry coming here,” said Ken Newburger, executive director of the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association. “First of all, there are going to be a lot of jobs coming into your area, and some of these grow facilities are going to employ 50 to 60 people right off the bat. On top of that, you are going to have construction jobs to create these state-of-the-art facilities for the grow facilities, themselves.”

The Mississippi State Department of Health has set a June 1 deadline for rules and regulations, and there are another 30 days for license approvals.

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