State Senate passes medical marijuana bill, now moves to the House

JACKSON, Miss. (WDAM) - It’s out with the old and in with the new when it comes to medical marijuana in the state of Mississippi.

The State Senate passed the ‘Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act’ Thursday. It’s a bill with what we’re told are very similar components to Initiative 65, which is the medical marijuana initiative the state Supreme Court overturned last year.

“I think you’ll see a lot of the same elements,” said State Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-District 41.

It’s not completely the same however. According to Fillingane, this bill is more restrictive than Initiative 65 was.

“So, there has to be a connection between what you claim you have as a condition or disease and the relief of what a doctor or, you know, a healthcare provider says that the medical marijuana would provide relief to,” said Fillingane. “And, then you get past that hurdle and can then purchase the prescribed amount of medical marijuana.”

As the bill is written now, one of those restrictions comes in the form of how much medical marijuana a person can potentially buy. According to Fillingane, the bill measures medical marijuana in a unit called the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Equivalency Unit.

“You can have under this version of the law if it’s what stays in place after the House does its thing... an amount not to exceed 28 of these MMCEUs in a 30-day period or seven in one week,” Fillingane said.

The Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act also added three diseases to the list that would potentially qualify a patient for eligibility to get medical marijuana.

“It had all of the same conditions that Initiative 65 had in it...,” Fillingane said. “Plus we added Hepatitis, Alzheimer’s Disease and Spastic Quadriplegia.”

The bill now goes to the State House of Representatives.