The Newton County Board of Supervisors last week decided to opt out of allowing all parts of the medical marijuana legislation passed by the House and Senate and signed by Gov. Tate Reeves.
The law allows the Mississippi Department of Public Health to issue licenses for cannabis growing, cultivation and packaging within 120 days of Feb. 2 when the bill was signed with dispensing to begin 30 days later.
The state law also gives counties and municipalities up to 90 days to opt out of any or all parts of cannabis production or distribution. If any city or county opts out, they can opt in at any time if the public body passes a resolution to opt in by a majority vote or by referendum if 20 percent of the voting population requests the vote.
If a municipality or county does not opt out, they will not be able to opt out after the 90-day window passes.
The Newton County Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a resolution to opt out.
During a public hearing on medical marijuana, Newton County Sheriff Joedy Pennington said he wanted the county to opt out of medical marijuana because he said there are other ways to get the THC than marijuana usage.
“I am 100 percent for getting the THC,” Pennington said. “Why does it have to be marijuana? There’s a pill for THC. There’s many other options anyone can take to help these people. By all means, if it’s legal, get it, but it doesn’t have to be in marijuana form.”
David Jeffrey didn’t attend the meeting but submitted his opinion in a letter that was read during the discussion. One of Jeffrey concern other than how much marijuana is likely to be consumed in the state was who was allowed to issue prescriptions for the medical cannabis.
“Another concerning thing about the bill is people other than a regular physician can OK it — a physician assistant, a nurse practitioner, an optometrist,” the letter stated. “Once a county opts in, there is no getting rid of it no matter how it turns out.”
Supervisors Charles Godwin asked who would be dispensing the marijuana if a pharmacy wasn’t going to be dispensing it. Board Attorney Jason Mangum said that there would be a specialized dispensary that would be licensed by the state department of public health to dispense the marijuana.
“The bottom line is that it is going to be legal to possess (cannabis) here,” Mangum said. “Most of the people I talk to are advising their boards to opt out because you can always opt back in. Our biggest concerns are zoning — where are you going to put these and what’s that going to look like? We want to take the slow approach and see what happens first.”
Resident Covert Dean said he felt like the issue is a property rights issue.
“You are restricting the use of my land and other farmers and landowners in this county that they cannot grow a legal crop,” he said. “If you restrict free trade, you are creating a black market. That’s basically what we have now. You’re back to the Baptist preachers and the bootleggers.”
