New medical marijuana legislation will take effect in Mississippi on July 1.
In 2022, the state passed a restrictive medical marijuana program. Two bills aimed at enhancing patient access to cannabis care and expanding research capabilities will officially take effect on July 1.
Senate Bill 2857 focuses on improving patient access by allowing patients to possess a 30-day supply of cannabis, rather than the previous 7-day limit. This change will more than quadruple the amount of marijuana products they are allowed to possess at any given time.
“This change will have a positive impact on patients who are mobility-impaired or who live quite some distance from a dispensary location,” says Henry Crisler, executive director for the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association. “It will also align medical cannabis with other medications that dispensed in 30-day supplies.”
Possession and purchase limits for medical marijuana are calculated based on “Medical Cannabis Equivalency Units” (MCEUs) of 3.5 grams of flower, up to 100 mg of THC in infused products, and up to one gram of concentrate. Currently, patients may not purchase more than six MCEUs in a week (21 grams), or more than 24 MCEUs in a month (three ounces).
Senate Bill 2888 will create the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Research Program. It will allow state, federal and private funds to be used for research “related to the efficacy and potential health effects of various cannabis delivery methods, including vaporizing, ingesting, topical application and combustion”.
Senator Kevin Blackwell says “This sets up a research facility that’ll actually be able to take up cohorts of patients with similar disease structures, try to identify what therapies they’ve been on, the effectiveness of those, so that eventually down the road we can set parameters for recommendations of cannabis for patients with certain illnesses”.
