Yesterday, just after 5 p.m., the Mississippi House voted 104-14 to approve an amended version of the Medical Cannabis Act that the Senate approved earlier this week. The three amendments to the Senate’s version of the act are:

• Reducing the amount of cannabis that a patient can purchase by .5 ounces, from 3.5 ounces to 3.0 ounces;
• Removing the Mississippi Department of Agriculture from having any obligations under the act and placing those obligations with the Mississippi Department of Health. Those obligations include licensing, inspection and oversight of cannabis cultivation facilities, cannabis processing facilities, cannabis transportation entities, and cannabis disposal entities.
• Expanding the zones in which cultivators and processors can operate to include commercial zones.

An approval of the amended act by the Senate sends the legislation straight to Gov. Tate Reeves, and if that approval matches its previous votes, the measure should be veto-proof because both chambers will have approved the act with an overwhelming two-thirds majority. We will continue to provide updates as this continues.