Voters will have the opportunity to approve medical marijuana next fall. If approved, what exactly would that look like?

Mississippi has 20 plus years of history and 33 other states to look back upon. Here is how the process would work, according to Medical Marijuana 2020, the organization leading the ballot initiative.

Step 1

A person must have a debilitating medical condition. The term “debilitating medical condition” is defined in the proposal as one of 22 named diseases, plus there is a special allowance for a physician to certify medical marijuana for a similar diagnosis.

Some of those conditions include:

• Cancer
• Epilepsy and other seizure-related ailments
• Huntington’s disease
• Multiple sclerosis
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• HIV
• AIDS
• Chronic pain
• ALS
• Glaucoma
• Chrohn’s disease
• Sickle cell anemia
• Autism with aggressive or self-harming behavior
• Spinal cord injuries

Step 2

A person with a debilitating medical condition is examined in-person and in Mississippi by a physician. The term “physician” is defined in the proposal as a Mississippi-licensed M.D. or D.O.

If the physician concludes that a person suffers from a debilitating medical condition and that the use of medical marijuana may mitigate the symptoms or effects of the condition, the physician may certify the person to use medical marijuana by issuing a form as prescribed by the Mississippi Board of Health.

The issuance of this form is defined in the proposal as a “physician certification” and is valid for 12 months, unless the physician specifies a shorter period of time.

Step 3

A person with a debilitating medical condition who has been issued a physician certification becomes a qualified patient under the proposal.

Step 4

A qualified patient then presents the physician certification to the Mississippi Department of Health and is issued a medical marijuana identification card.

The ID card allows the patient to obtain medical marijuana from a licensed and regulated treatment center and protects the patient from civil and/or criminal sanctions in the event the patient is confronted by law enforcement officers.

“Shopping” among multiple treatment centers is prevented through the use of a real-time database and online access system maintained by the Mississippi Department of Health.

Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers will be registered with, licensed, and regulated by the Mississippi Department of Health. Each medical marijuana business will have to apply to and be approved by MDH. But there will not be a limit on the number of businesses, allowing for a free market based on demand.

Users would not be able to smoke medical marijuana in a public place and home grow would be prohibited, though it is legal is some other states.

If approved, the program will be up and running no later than August 15, 2021 according to the initiative's wording.

In 2018, voters in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Utah approved ballot initiatives to legalize medical marijuana. Two years prior, voters in Arkansas, Florida, and North Dakota did the same thing. 

The trend lines are obvious: What began as initiatives in largely blue states, or libertarian leaning western states, has now spread to traditionally Republican states. And we have even begun to see Republican legislatures in states like Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia approving medical marijuana. 

And next fall, Mississippi voters will have the opportunity to make the Magnolia State the 34th state to legalize medical marijuana. Medical Marijuana 2020, the team behind the ballot initiative, recently submitted over 100,000 certified signatures to the secretary of state. 

If history, and momentum, is any guide, the campaign has a good chance of success even as statewide officials and candidates struggle with the issue that is very popular according to internal polling.

A history of how medical marijuana became legal by state

During the 2019 session, the Georgia and Texas legislatures approved medical marijuana though the rollout has not been finalized. 

What would medical marijuana look like in Mississippi

If the ballot initiative is approved by voters in November, marijuana would be legal for those with a debilitating medical condition and would have to be authorized by a physician and receive it from a licensed treatment center.

Some of these conditions include:

• Cancer
• Epilepsy and other seizure-related ailments
• Huntington’s disease
• Multiple sclerosis
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• HIV
• AIDS
• Chronic pain
• ALS
• Glaucoma
• Chrohn’s disease
• Sickle cell anemia
• Autism with aggressive or self-harming behavior
• Spinal cord injuries

If a physician concludes that a person suffers from a debilitating medical condition and that the use of medical marijuana may mitigate the symptoms or effects of the condition, the physician may certify the person to use medical marijuana by issuing a form as prescribed by the Mississippi Board of Health. The issuance of this form is defined in the proposal as a “physician certification” and is valid for 12 months, unless the physician specifies a shorter period of time.

That individual then becomes a qualified patient. After they do this, they present the physician certification to the Mississippi Department of Health and are issued a medical marijuana identification card. The ID card allows the patient to obtain medical marijuana from a licensed and regulated treatment center and protects the patient from civil and/or criminal sanctions in the event the patient is confronted by law enforcement officers. “Shopping” among multiple treatment centers is prevented through the use of a real-time database and online access system maintained by the Mississippi Department of Health.

The Mississippi Department of Health would regulate the cultivation of marijuana, processing, and being made available to patients. There would also be limits on how much marijuana a patient could obtain.

Expanding Medicaid bears a large fiscal cost, as evidenced by the experience of Indiana.

Indiana’s general fund budget grew overall by 13.33 percent or about two billion dollars from 2014 to 2021. 

The biggest driver in the increase was the expansion of Medicaid in 2015 in Indiana under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, for able-bodied working adults up to 138 percent of the poverty level.

General fund spending on Medicaid in the Hoosier State increased by 26.9 percent, growing from $1.98 billion in 2014 to $2.7 billion in the 2021 budget. 

Medicaid went from 13.7 percent of the state’s general fund budget in the 2014 and 2014 budget cycles to 14.8 percent in the 2020 and 2021 budgets.

In 2013, the Hoosier State had 1,120,674 enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP. By July 2019, that number swelled to 1,421,594, an increase of 26.85 percent or a difference of more than 300,000.

Indiana taxpayers will spend more than $5.2 billion combined in general fund revenue and nearly $3.7 billion in dedicated (non-general) funds on Medicaid for the 2019 and 2020 budgets. Federal taxpayers will add more than $21.4 billion.

In 2014 and 2015, Hoosier State taxpayers spent $4.13 billion in combined general fund revenue and $1.34 billion in dedicated funds on Medicaid. Federal funds added up to $12.9 billion pre-expansion. 

Indiana’s legislature, the General Assembly, passes a biennial, consolidated budget, one of 15 states with an annual legislative session and a biennial budgetary process.

K-12 education, the biggest line item in general fund revenues for Indiana, increased nearly 13 percent during that same period while its share of the biennial budget decreased from 45.5 percent to 44.8 percent. 

Medicaid spending in Mississippi will add up to more than $931 million from state taxpayers and nearly $4.94 billion in federal funds for a total of $6.3 billion for fiscal 2020, which started on July 1. 

Increasing general fund spending on Medicaid by the same percentage as Indiana (26.9 percent) would add up to $1.18 billion, an increase of more than $250 million. 

That’s more than the spending for the state Department of Mental Health ($213 million), public safety, military and veterans’ affairs ($114 million) or agriculture and economic development (more than $111 million).

Eight of the 31 states that have expanded Medicaid have received waivers to modify the terms of their expansion that can include a work requirement, small premiums or tobacco cessation provisions. 

Indiana also requires some cost-sharing in the form of small premiums based on a recipient’s income level. If a Medicaid recipient doesn’t pay their premiums after a 60-day grace period, they’re removed from the program and have to wait six months to re-enroll.

In 2017, Indiana received a waiver from the Trump administration for a work requirement program for Medicaid recipients that would require them to either work, attend job training or other schooling or volunteer. 

As part of their waiver, the Hoosier State also added a tobacco cessation program that requires participation for tobacco users on Medicaid. Those tobacco-using Medicaid recipients who don’t participate are hit with a premium surcharge.

According to an analysis of data by the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, the special sales tax that supports the Jackson Convention Center has raised more than $23 million over the past five years.

Yet the convention center has lost more than $4.9 million during the same timeframe, according to annual reports issued by the center and needs more money to keep the lights on and employees working.

Tuesday, the Jackson City Council tabled until their next meeting a proposal that would’ve given the struggling facility $131,000 from the city’s general funds to cover the facility’s bills until September 30. The next city council meeting is September 17.

The city’s tourism promotion agency, Visit Jackson, has already contributed $450,000 to the convention center’s operating funds this year. Visit Jackson is supported by a 1 percent tax on food in the city limits.

“We need to assure that the doors aren’t closed and that those who have already booked the convention center have a functioning staff, willing, ready and able to support their events,” Jackson Mayor Antar Lumumba said at the council meeting. 

The center’s website lists nine events through October.

He also proposed that the city do a new request for proposals from management companies to see if another group can get the convention center’s bottom line out of the red. At present, the center is managed by SMG.

The idea of spending city funds to bail out what was supposed to be a $66 million economic engine annually for the city didn’t sit well with some on the council.

“I don’t think we should have to make an emergency decision to dispense $130,000 without a presentation from the people asking for the money, talking about their business model and why there’s a shortfall of $130,000 so we can understand and get a sense of whether there are issues with the organization itself,” said City Councilman Ashby Foote, who represents Ward 1. 

“We can’t sit here and be an ATM for people coming in and saying ‘I need another $130,000.’”

According to the 2017 report, the center’s number of events and attendance fell from 2016. There were 207 event days in 2017, versus 293 in 2017. The number of visitors declined by 182,124 in 2016 to 131,910 in 2016.

SMG also manages the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and Lumumba said their approach might not fit Jackson’s needs.

“If we were confident that their (SMG) business model was the best business model, we wouldn’t be doing that (issuing an RFP),” Lumumba said. “They’re not profitable, but you do this to assure heads and beds in your hotels. Most convention centers break even.”

The Morial Convention Center lost $36,275 in operating revenues in 2018, $31,450 in 2017 and $29,925 in 2016, but it attracted 739,161 visitors in 2017 and generated an economic impact of $2.3 billion.

Jackson’s convention center was credited for $18.7 million in direct and indirect spending in 2017, a far cry from the $66 million in economic impact that supporters of building the convention center cited as a reason to spend taxpayer dollars on the facility, which still doesn’t have an attached hotel.

The sales tax for the convention center is one of three levied in the Jackson city limits. The convention center levy is a one percent tax on restaurants, a three percent tax on sales of hotels and a $2 tax on every rental car.

The sales tax to fund construction and operation of the $65 million convention center was authorized by House Bill 1832, which was passed in the 2004 session. The convention center opened in 2009.

A ballot initiative that could authorize medical marijuana is a step closer to appearing on the ballot in the November 2020 election.

Mississippians for Compassionate Care submitted 105,686 certified signatures from registered voters to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office this week. The secretary of state’s office will have 90 days to determine if the initiative will qualify for the ballot. The signatures were required to be certified by county circuit clerks before being filed with the secretary of state’s office.

The group exceeded the minimum by more than 20,000 signatures statewide.

“We’re above the minimum in each of the old, five congressional districts because if a batch (of signatures) gets kicked out because it doesn’t have a signature or it doesn’t meet any of the requirements, we wanted to have a buffer there in each one that we indeed qualify,” said Jamie Grantham, who is the communications director for Mississippians for Compassionate Care.

If the ballot initiative is approved by voters in November, marijuana would be legal for those with a debilitating medical condition and would have to be authorized by a physician and receive it from a licensed treatment center.

Some of these conditions include:

• Cancer
• Epilepsy and other seizure-related ailments
• Huntington’s disease
• Multiple sclerosis
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• HIV
• AIDS
• Chronic pain
• ALS
• Glaucoma
• Chrohn’s disease
• Sickle cell anemia
• Autism with aggressive or self-harming behavior
• Spinal cord injuries.

The Mississippi Department of Health would regulate the cultivation of marijuana, processing and being made available to patients. There would also be limits on how much marijuana a patient could obtain.

As of now, there are 33 states, including Arkansas and Louisiana, that have approved the use of medical marijuana and 2.8 million nationally are using medical marijuana to relieve pain and treat their symptoms.

“Patients in Mississippi are the same as anywhere else,” Grantham said. “We want them to have that option and it helps so many people. It’s polling at about 77 percent. What we’ve found talking to groups of people that most Mississippians are educated on this and understand that it helps people with severe conditions like epilepsy, cancer and Parkinson’s. They’re in favor of a strictly regulated medical program that’ll provide relief to patients.” 

This initiative wouldn’t affect recreational use of marijuana, which would require a new ballot initiative.

Speaking of that process, the way it works is organizers apply with the secretary of state’s office to start gathering signatures. The ballot initiative language and petition also has to be approved by the state Attorney General’s Office. 

Organizers of a ballot initiative need 17,237 signatures apiece for a total of 86,185 from the five old congressional districts — as they existed in 2000 —for a ballot initiative to meet the standard. 

Organizers have a year to get the required number of signatures and MFCC started on September 6, 2018.

For the measure to go into effect, the number of votes in favor of the initiative need to equal or exceed 40 percent of the total votes cast in the election.

Grantham said the MFCC used an outside vendor to obtain the signatures and the group did a lot of events statewide in addition to going door to door, important since Mississippi is a very rural state. 

New regulations will allow vegan and vegetarian food companies to continue using meat or meat product terms on their labels. 

In July, the Institute for Justice and Mississippi Justice Institute partnered to bring a First Amendment lawsuit against the State of Mississippi concerning proposed regulations that would have banned plant-based foods from using meat product terms like “burger,” “bacon,” and “hot dog” on their packaging. The new regulations are the result of the lawsuit.

“These new proposed regulations are a victory for free speech in Mississippi,” said Aaron Rice, Director of the Mississippi Justice Institute. “It shouldn’t be a crime for plant-based food companies to describe their products in a way that everyone understands.  We are happy that our state officials listened to the concerns brought forward by our clients in this lawsuit, and took the right approach. Because of these changes in the regulations, our clients will be able to continue selling vegan and vegetarian products in Mississippi.”

Under the new regulations, plant-based foods will not be considered to be labeled as a “meat” or “meat food product” if the label also includes “meat-free,” “meatless,” “plant-based,” “vegetarian,” “vegan,” or similar terms. 

The proposal will be open for public comment for 25 days. 

The proposed regulations can be found here. 

The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of public charter school funding, preserving the schools that have served as a lifeline to hundreds of Mississippi children in just a few short years. 

“This ruling is a major victory for parents who simply want what every parent wants: the ability to choose the best possible education for their children,” said Aaron Rice, Director of the Mississippi Justice Institute. “We are happy for our clients and for every parent and student in Mississippi who will continue to have increased educational choices because of this ruling.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit in 2016 which could have shut down charter schools. The Mississippi Justice Institute intervened and represented three parents whose children attend charter schools.

The Court ruled that Mississippi’s Charter School Act of 2013 is constitutional. The Southern Poverty Law Center had argued that part of the Act’s funding mechanism was unconstitutional. That provision requires public schools to share the tax revenues collected for education with charter schools in their district, based on the number of students who attend those charter schools. The Court held that this funding mechanism was constitutional, because charter schools are public schools and are associated with the school district in which they are located.  

“The parents are pleased that the Supreme Court has confirmed the authority of the legislature to provide different options to meet the educational needs of all Mississippi children,” said Mike Wallace, a Shareholder with Wise Carter who provided pro-bono counsel for charter school parents. “Mississippians should now continue to work with the legislature to develop new and creative programs so that parents can choose those that best serve their children.”

“I’m very excited about this decision,” Tiffany Minor, the mother of a student at Smilow Prep said.” It gives my daughter and other children the opportunity to choose what type of education they would like at what school they choose to go to. So I’m very excited. This was the best decision ever. I love it.”

In just a couple years, Tiffany has seen the change this new option provided for her daughter, Jalonda. 

“When my daughter did a test during her first year at Smilow Prep as she was entering fifth grade, she was on a third grade reading level,” Tiffany said. “By the time she ended that school year and was getting ready to go to sixth grade she was on the actual six grade reading level. So she transformed three reading levels in one year from Smilow Prep. It’s helping her and she’s having fun while she’s making honor roll so I love it. It’s amazing to me.”

“Smilow Prep has helped me a lot since I’ve been in it and it actually makes me a better learner,” Jalonda said. “They give me extra help when I need it.”

Charter schools are public schools that are given freedom from some of the regulations placed on traditional public schools. They currently operate in over 40 states and the District of Columbia. If the Southern Poverty Law Center’s suit was successful at the Mississippi Supreme Court, Mississippi would be one of a small handful of states to not offer these innovate schools for children.

Ella Mae James has two children at Reimagine Prep, Laporcha and Jonathon.

“My children have been attending Reimagine Prep from when the school first opened,” Ella said. “And they have grown so much in their reading and math levels. They did it with the tutoring and the extra help they receive. And we just appreciate having this opportunity to give them that choice.”

The full ruling can be found here.

Jackson’s crime problem not only impacts the city, it impacts the entire state.

As we talked about in a previous story from our look into Jackson this week, Mississippi’s capitol city has seen a disturbing spike in violent crime. But what can we do about it?

Just send more people to jail?

Usually when people discuss issues of crime and discouraging crime, the idea of longer prison sentences is floated. But this idea goes against evidence that points to what works and what is recommended by corrections officials.  

Prison should work to reform people who want to turn their lives around and separate those who don’t want to be reformed from the rest of society. However, without incentives to participate in any programming, people who would truly want to turn their lives around leave incarceration worse than when they entered.

Incarceration used as a means to deter crime is a myth. 

Research proves that people are more influenced by whether they will be caught at all and whether they will be convicted quickly. Swift and certain sanctions deter crime better than long periods of incarceration.

Many states have proven they can reduce both crime and incarceration in the last decade. 

Here are some real solutions that would help alleviate some of Jackson’s crime issues. 

Prioritize diversion and treatment.

Currently, people with addiction issues and those convicted of serious violent offenses are treated much in the same way – they’re sent to the same jail and prosecuted criminally, then they serve time in prison and time on supervision afterwards. 

The problem with this approach for people who struggle with addiction is that drug usage is rampant in prison. The city and state are paying to incarcerate someone for using drugs, while they continue to use drugs in jail and after release. There’s a better way to address this problem by implementing treatment diversion programs that connect people with drug treatment programs.

These have been successfully implemented in jurisdictions around the country, and are proven to be more effective than the traditional approach. 

Focus supervision resources on serious offenses. Place a maximum cap on probation lengths and reduce the number of people jailed and imprisoned for minor technical violations. 

Currently, probation and parole agents are massively overloaded, having to supervise over a hundred people each. This makes it impossible for them to adequately supervise people. Some people are on probation or parole for up to five years, although research shows that most crimes are committed within the first two years. Capping probation times at three years could allow officers to provide more supervision to those who most need it.  

And focus resources of people with serious offenses by eliminating imprisonment for technical violations. 

Prioritize jail space for people who pose a danger to public safety. 

By focusing on serious offenses, the city can reduce the number of people jailed for petty misdemeanors.

As Gov. Phil Bryant discussed in his State of the State address earlier this year: Reforms might be labeled soft on crime, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Conservative states around the country have pioneered this approach, and Mississippi would do well to learn from them. 

Jackson does not have to have a crime problem just because it’s a large city. Over the previous two decades, we have seen cities revitalized and made safer. A very important step in that process is making residents, or potential residents, feel safe. 

By continuing to implement smart reforms, we can make Jackson, and every city in the state, safer.

This week, Mississippi Center for Public Policy will be looking into the underlying reasons as to why Jackson is struggling, exploring the legislative and regulatory climate which encourages migration and business stagnation both within our capital city, and across the state.

A former Jones County Junior College student is suing the school for twice infringing his First Amendment rights to free speech.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) filed a complaint in U.S. District Court Tuesday on behalf of J. Michael Brown, a former student at the school who is now at the University of Southern Mississippi. 

The complaint says that Brown was stopped twice by campus police for trying to inform students about the political club he was involved, Young Americans for Liberty, without prior authorization from the school’s administration. 

Brown was stopped by campus officials twice, once in February about an inflatable beach ball, known as a “free speech ball,” upon which students could write messages of their choice and the second in April for polling students about marijuana legalization. 

An administrator told YAL that they weren’t permitted on campus since they hadn’t sought permission from the college.

According to Brown, he and another student held up a sign polling students on recreational marijuana. Campus police took him and another student to their office after telling a friend who wasn’t a student to leave and escorted off campus.  

“Some people get in trouble for smoking weed, but at Jones College, I got in trouble just for trying to talk about it,” Brown said in a statement. “College is for cultivating thought and learning and encouraging civil discourse with your peers. That's not what's happening at Jones College.”

The lawsuit seeks declaratory judgement to strike the free speech restraints from the student handbook, a permanent injunction against the school to restrain their enforcement of unconstitutional policies and practices, monetary damages and attorneys’ fees.

The school’s student handbook requires at least three days’ notice to administrators before “gathering for any purpose.” The student handbook also puts even more restrictions on college-connected student organizations, which must schedule their events through the vice president of student affairs. The school administration also reserves the right, according to the handbook, to not schedule a speaker or an activity.

In May, FIRE wrote a letter to Jones Count Junior College President Jesse Smith offering to help the community college bring its policies into compliance with the First Amendment. The school didn’t respond to the letter.

Marieke Tuthill Beck-Coon, FIRE’s director of litigation, said in a statement that the school had a chance to do the right thing.

“Instead, its leaders ignored their responsibility to uphold the First Amendment,” Beck-Coon said. “Now the college has to answer for its censorship in federal court.”

Cody Gibson of Gibson & Mullennix is assisting FIRE with the case as local co-counsel.