NATCHEZ, Miss. – Adams County supervisors are working out zoning regulations to restrict where medical marijuana businesses can be located in the county outside Natchez.
While state-licensed dispensaries, growers and other cannabis-related businesses would be allowed in Adams County, they’re “not going to be on every corner – I can assure you,” said county board President Wes Middleton.
The Mississippi Legislature in January legalized marijuana that healthcare providers can prescribe to patients with cancer or other serious illnesses.
It’s expected to be late 2022 before patients can get medical marijuana from doctors and dispensaries.
The state Department of Revenue on Friday began accepting applications from businesses wanting the required licenses to dispense medical marijuana. The state Department of Health is involved in regulating patients, medical providers and processors.
The new state law contains various limits on the growing, sale and consumption of the medicinal weed and empowers local governments to impose their own restrictions on where marijuana businesses can be.
The Natchez Board of Aldermen on Friday approved a measure Friday to allow marijuana pharmacies only where most of Natchez doctors’ clinics are concentrated by Merit Health hospital on Seargent Prentiss Drive – a district that also includes Jeff Davis and Highland boulevards.
Adams County Supervisor Ricky Gray said Tuesday that similar restrictions should be adopted for outside the city to ensure such businesses aren’t haphazardly located. “I just think we need to get on board,” Gray said of the need to enact a county law setting out where medical businesses can be.
Adams County board attorney Scott Slover said he’s studying the state medical marijuana law for what it covers as the county board determines what further regulations are needed. “We’ll just look at the (law) and see if there are any gaps,” he said.
The new Mississippi law does specify dispensaries can’t be near schools and churches and that marijuana can be grown only in indoor facilities located in areas zoned for agricultural or industrial uses.
The state is allowing 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.
For more information about the state medical cannabis program, go to the state Department of Health and state Department of Revenue websites:
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