Miss. Group Closing in on Signature Goal

Organizers need about 28,700 more signatures to put an initiative to legalize medical marijuana on the November 2020 ballot.

This 2014 photo provided by the University of Mississippi shows marijuana plants growing at the Ole Miss medicinal gardens in University, Miss.
This 2014 photo provided by the University of Mississippi shows marijuana plants growing at the Ole Miss medicinal gardens in University, Miss.
Robert Jordan/University of Mississippi via AP

COLUMBUS, Miss. (AP) — A group petitioning to legalize medical marijuana in Mississippi says it needs about 28,700 more signatures to put the initiative on the November 2020 ballot.

Jamie Grantham is communications director for Medical Marijuana 2020. She said organizers have gathered more than 86,000 signatures. That’s about two-thirds of what’s needed.

The Commercial Dispatch reports Grantham spoke to a civic club Tuesday in Columbus.

She said the state Department of Health would regulate every facet of the program, including overseeing treatment centers where products would be sold. She says only Mississippi licensed physicians could prescribe marijuana products to people with “debilitating medical conditions.”

Mississippi Public Safety Commissioner Marshall Fisher has said he opposes easing marijuana laws because of concerns the drug could be abused. He was a longtime narcotics agent.

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