The Lamar County Board of Supervisors did not make a motion on the option to opt out of Section 30 of the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Program (SB2095) at their regular meeting on Monday, March 24, 2022. This decision means that Lamar County will allow the licensing of medical marijuana growers and distributors within the unincorporated parts of the county.
At the meeting, District 2 Supervisor Warren Byrd said that he wanted to clarify some rumors that had been spread online and in the Lamar County community during the lead up to the supervisor’s vote.
“The only thing on the table today is to decide to allow growing and allow store dispensation. Byrd said. “That’s it! We don’t have the option to opt in to the program. We have the option to opt out of this one part of it. We want everybody to understand that.”
County and city governments have only 90 days from the enactment of SB2095 to choose to opt out of the program. Once opted in, the decision cannot be reversed.
Since the bill’s passage, the Mississippi Economic Department Council has predicted that medical marijuana will have a major impact on the state and local economies. Estimates based on neighboring states with similar laws and population sizes, like Arkansas, predict tax revenue increases to be around $30–$50 million.
Supporters both for and against the option to opt out spoke at the March 24 meeting ahead of the vote.
“The majority of people who really wanted to get into the marijuana business spent over $6 million dollars to promote this bill,” said Ed Langton, a former member of the State Board of Health. “I wish we would have had that kind of promotion for cancer and heart disease. It’s about three things: money, money, money. It’s going to change our lifestyles and everything that we’ve lived by and the fine community that Lamar County is.”
Meegan Loftin, a Lamar County resident that suffers from a neurological condition similar to Parkinson’s and MS, voiced her opposition to opting out by citing the need to have dispensaries close to the people, like herself, that needed the medicine.
“I couldn’t drive for over three years,” Loftin said. “There are many people with Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons or other conditions that can’t drive. I just want to make sure that they aren’t going to have to go all the way to Marion County or some other place to get the medical marijuana they need.”
After the meeting, Byrd and District 1 Supervisor Lampton spoke with community members that still had questions about the bill and what the decision not to opt out meant.
“There is not a person that sits on this board that is against medical marijuana when there is a legitimate need,” Byrd said.
