Mississippi Regulators Unveil Medical Cannabis Program Details

The Mississippi Department of Health (MDH) released some initial details about the state’s medical cannabis system, Ya’ll Politics reports. The release lists qualifying conditions, explains how patients will obtain registration cards, and how health care providers can become medical cannabis practitioners.

Under the proposal, qualifying conditions include multiple sclerosis, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, muscular dystrophy, glaucoma, spastic quadriplegia, HIV, AIDS, hepatitis, ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, sickle cell anemia, Alzheimer’s, dementia, post-traumatic stress disorder, autism, pain refractory to opioid management, diabetic/peripheral neuropathy, spinal cord disease, or severe injury, chronic medical treatment that causes cachexia or wasting, severe nausea, seizures, severe and persistent muscle spasms, or chronic pain.

Patients can register with the state after a doctor — with which they must already have a “bonafide relationship” — makes the program recommendation. Registration cards cost $25 each year and patients must attend a follow-up appointment every six months after their first in-person visit. Patient applications are expected to be available by June 2 and out-of-state patients will be eligible to obtain two 15-day passes per year to purchase Mississippi medical cannabis, the report says.

Physicians, physician’s assistants, nurse practitioners, or optometrists who want to recommend medical cannabis must attend eight hours of continuing education the first year and five hours each year thereafter.

Mississippi voters passed the medical cannabis constitutional amendment in November 2020 but the measure was quickly challenged in court and was eventually overturned due to an election law technicality. This led to a retracted discussion in the Mississippi legislature and multiple veto threats by Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) but the state ultimately passed medical cannabis regulations through the legislative process last year.