Gov. Tate Reeves outlines his priorities throughout his State of the State handle earlier than a joint session of the Legislature on the steps of the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022. (AP Photograph/Rogelio V. Solis)
AP
JACKSON, Miss.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves stated Tuesday that he has not determined whether or not he’ll signal a invoice to legalize marijuana for individuals with debilitating medical situations resembling most cancers, AIDS and sickle cell illness.
The invoice is predicted to change into regulation no matter what the Republican governor does as a result of the GOP-led Home and Senate handed it final week by veto-proof majorities.
Reeves informed reporters Tuesday on the Capitol that his attorneys had been nonetheless reviewing the invoice. He stated he was happy legislators had made some adjustments he steered, together with decreasing the quantity of marijuana obtainable to sufferers every month.
“The method would not at all times work, however the course of has labored on this specific occasion,” Reeves stated.
The governor has a Wednesday deadline to behave on Senate Invoice 2095. He might signal it, veto it or let it change into regulation with out his signature.
The Nationwide Convention of State Legislatures says 36 states and 4 territories already enable the medical use of hashish. Mississippi would change into the thirty seventh state.
The invoice says sufferers might purchase as much as to three.5 grams of hashish per day, as much as six days per week. That’s about 3 ounces monthly. The invoice additionally units taxes on manufacturing and sale of hashish, and it specifies that vegetation have to be grown indoors underneath managed situations.
A majority of Mississippi voters permitted a medical marijuana initiative in November 2020, and it will have allowed individuals to purchase as much as 5 ounces a month. The state Supreme Courtroom invalidated it six months later by ruling that the state’s initiative course of was outdated and the measure was not correctly on the poll.
Reeves stated he likes that the invoice requires parental consent and a physician’s permission for sufferers youthful than 18 to acquire marijuana.
“I don’t assume there’s any doubt that there’s potential mind harm that may very well be brought on by having an excessive amount of marijuana for these whose mind formations are persevering with, and that’s sometimes these underneath the age of 25,” Reeves stated.
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