NATCHEZ, Miss. – A zoning plan being drawn for where medical marijuana can be sold in Natchez is to have it in the hospital area.
The Board of Aldermen envisions dispensaries being allowed only where doctors’ clinics are concentrated near Merit Health hospital on Seargent Prentiss Drive. Aldermen voted Tuesday to instruct their attorney and city planner to map out a medical district that would include Jeff Davis and Highland boulevards along with the Tracetown shopping center.
The state Legislature in January legalized marijuana that health-care providers can prescribe to patients with cancer or other serious illnesses.
While the new law gives city and county boards until early May to opt out of allowing medical marijuana dispensaries or farmers in their communities, Natchez is moving forward with having legal cannabis commerce.
In 2020, 65 percent of Adams County voters approved legalizing medical marijuana when a ballot initiative passed statewide for this. The state Supreme Court nullified that vote in 2021, when it ruled Mississippi’s initiative process is invalid.
The new law enacted by the Legislature does contain various regulations on the growing and sale of marijuana and empowers local governments to impose their own restrictions on where marijuana businesses can be located.
It does specify marijuana can be grown only in indoor facilities located in areas zoned for agricultural and industrial uses.
The boards for several Mississippi cities have voted to opt out of allowing the legal sale of medical marijuana in their communities. They include Brandon, Ridgeland and Pass Christian.
The new state law allows doctors to prescribe cannabis to patients with various debilitating medical conditions such as cancer, sickle-cell disease, glaucoma or dementia. The law limits how much can be prescribed and empowers the state Department of Health to develop medical-marijuana regulations. There’s also a cannabis tax structure to generate more government revenues.
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