During a presentation at Hobnob, the Mississippi Speaker of the House, Phillip Gunn, R, spoke about the medical cannabis bill lawmakers have been working on for the last several months. 

“The House and Senate agreed about a month ago,” Speaker Gunn said to the crowd. “The governor said he would call a special session.”

Unfortunately, Governor Tate Reeves, R, has not called for a special legislative session. As it stands, the governor is requesting “unreasonable demands” according to Representative Lee Yancey, R. Yancey, along with Gunn and other lawmakers, have been working on a medical cannabis bill draft as the governor requested before a special session is called for. 

Supposedly the governor wants to reduce the amount of units a patient can get. However, lawmakers say the demand is too low and unreasonable. This would make it impossible for patients to even feel the effects of their medicine let alone benefit from it. 

Yancey explained earlier this month about the medical cannabis bill situation. “We have brought forward a bill that many have said would be the best program in the country. We are ready to have a special session… An overwhelming number in the House and Senate are ready to pass this, and we have a majority of people in Mississippi who voted for us to pass this.”

Next Steps

Unfortunately, because of this delay, Speaker Gunn believes there may be no other option than to present the bill in the next regular session. That won’t begin until January 2022.

“We’ve heard nothing,” Gunn said. “We may have to take it up in January.” Additionally, Gunn explained that legislators in Mississippi cannot call their own session; it has to be the governor.

This is another setback for the 75 percent of people who approved medical cannabis during the 2020 election. The Mississippi Supreme Court overturned the measure on a technicality earlier this year. Since then, lawmakers have been working hard to bring the bill forward. It seems the bill will most likely have to wait longer as a compromise for a special session can’t be met between the governor and lawmakers.

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