Mississippi May Expand List of MMJ Qualifying Conditions
Mississippi may soon list new qualifying medical conditions in a bid to make improvements for its state marijuana program. Mississippi currently has more than 180 marijuana dispensary sites that sell medical flower to qualifying cannabis patients. However, cannabis is not as profitable as in other states, largely because there’s a huge imbalance between supply and demand.
Mississippi is one of the states that has not been able to recover cannabis sales after the pandemic. The drop in sales following the end of the COVID crisis was felt in much bigger markets such as California and Colorado, but in Mississippi where cannabis is overregulated it was felt even more. Growers and retailers have been asking for help from regulators for a long time now to implement rule changes that will improve the state of the market, and Mississippi officials are finally listening.
One solution how the cannabis sector in Mississippi could meliorate is by adding new qualifying conditions on the list for medical cannabis. This would directly increase the number of eligible patients and potentially bring more profits for retailers.
As of October 2024, reportedly there are 45,000 medical cannabis cardholders in The Magnolia State. But for businesses to be profitable, the state needs to have at least 90,000 patients, according to a spokesperson from the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Patient Association.
As in other states, local cannabis businesses are subject to high taxes. Being state legal but not federally legal, they are subject to more taxes, which is always eating up a significant part of revenues.
In the end, there’s also the apparent disproportion in the number of retailers and cultivators. The state currently has 130 growers who distribute to 180 dispensaries and about 1,000,000 square feet of canopy. Getting a cannabis business license in Mississippi costs around $40,000. It’s much cheaper to acquire a cannabis cultivation license, which costs between $3,500 and $4,000. Therefore, the state is producing much more cannabis flower for a relatively small group of medical patients. With excess supply and insufficient demand, growers often opt to operate well below their full capacity.
Insomnia and Anxiety May Be Added as Qualifying Conditions for Mississippi Medical Marijuana Program
Mississippi authorities are amid discussions on how to improve the state medical marijuana program so that both patients and businesses can take more benefit from it. One of the main rule proposals is to add several new medical conditions to the state medical program and with that expand the program.
The two main health conditions considered for putting on the list are insomnia and anxiety, which could significantly increase the number of potential patients. Those are in fact some of the most common reasons people use weed.
Here’s the current list of Mississippi’s qualifying conditions for medical cannabis:
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
- Autism
- Cachexia
- Cancer
- Chronic pain (refractory)
- Crohn’s disease
- Diabetic/peripheral neuropathy
- Dementia-caused agitation
- Glaucoma
- Hepatitis
- HIV/AIDS
- Huntington’s disease
- Muscular dystrophy
- Nausea
- Parkinson’s disease
- PTSD
- Seizures
- Severe muscle spasms
- Sickle cell disease
- Plastic quadriplegia
- Spinal cord disease
- Ulcerative colitis
As soon as new health conditions are added to Mississippi’s list of qualifying conditions for medical cannabis, authorities believe that the program could attract new groups of patients. By some estimates, this could happen by July 2025.
Another measure reportedly being reviewed by Mississippi authorities is to begin accepting medical cards from other states throughout the entire year. At the moment, you can use an out-of-state medical card in Mississippi much like travel visa, only for a limited period of time. Such as twice a year for a couple of weeks.
A third measure might address the number of prescribing doctors. Doctors are sometimes limited and cannot recommend cannabis to patients due to various factors, including restrictions from their employers. Upgrading the rules could increase the number of doctors eligible to instruct patients to use cannabis, and help more people take the health benefits from using herb-based medicines.
How Much Cannabis Can Mississippi Patients Possess?
Qualified patients in Mississippi could purchase up to 3.5 grams of flower or up to one gram of concentrate per day from licensed cannabis stores. Patients or caregivers are limited to a maximum of three ounces of cannabis flower per month. Flower is capped at 30% THC and concentrates are capped at 60% THC. By law, homegrowing your own cannabis plants for personal medical use is, unfortunately, still not allowed in Mississippi.
Also read on Soft Secrets:
- Over 4 Million Americans Enrolled in State Medical Marijuana Programs
S
Stephen Andrews
