Following the House Speaker Phillip Gunn, R, at the Hobnob conference on Thursday October 28, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, R, ignored and dodged questions surrounding the medical cannabis special session. In May, the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned IM 65, which would legalize medical cannabis for qualifying patients in the state. Since then, lawmakers have been working together to create a bill to replace IM 65. And Governor Reeves has been encouraging them along the way. 

The governor made one point clear. He would call for a special session to discuss medical cannabis legalization once lawmakers brought him a draft of the bill. At the end of September, lawmakers did just that. They brought Governor Reeves a draft and asked for him to call for a special session. 

However, Governor Reeves responded with concerns and stipulations for the medical cannabis bill before he would agree to call for a special session. Now, lawmakers and the governor are at a stand still. Lawmakers say the governor is making “unreasonable demands” and that things could potentially wait until January during the next regular session. 

Questions

This stand still has left a lot of patients and their advocates waiting for answers. Unfortunately they don’t seem to get any. Just more unanswered questions. The day prior to the Hobnob conference, Governor Reeves held a meet and greet with local supporters. 

While there, a family in need of medical cannabis for their son tried to talk to the governor. He repeatedly dodged questions and walked away from the family until they cornered him near the back of the restaurant to talk with him about what was happening and how much they needed this special session to take place.

​​“He said that, ‘We’re working on it,’” the mother said after she tried to talk to Governor Reeves. “… He ran away from us in the restaurant as I tried to push (our son) Brian around in his wheelchair … We handed (Reeves) a photo of Brian with a black eye from his seizures, and he tried not to take it but I forced his hand and he just kept saying, thank you, thank you and tried to walk off.

“He wouldn’t give me an answer,” she continued. “We told him we know that both sides have agreed to something, and they’re waiting on him to call a session. He would not answer us as to when the session would be … pretty much, he treated Brian like he had the plague, barely even looked at him.”

Additionally, members of the Facebook Group, We are the 74, posted videos of the mother and Brian as they met with Governor Reeves. The post said, “Here is how our governor treated one of our child patients today. Makes me sick to see him run from a child who desperately needs this man to simply pick up the phone and call the damn special session already.”

Next Steps

Lawmakers are pointing the blame for the lack of a special session on the governor. He has the only authority to call for a special session in the state. Advocates are asking questions on why a special session hasn’t been called yet. And Governor Reeves and his close cabinet members are keeping their mouths shut on the whole situation. The best advocates and patients can do is wait. As more information becomes available, we will update you with the latest.

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