Mississippi starts medical cannabis licensing; sales to begin by year-end

Mississippi medical cannabis regulators opened the licensing application process last week for growers, processors, testing facilities and transporters, but it could be year-end before sales start.

That’s in line with the timeline expected when lawmakers passed a restrictive medical cannabis law in January.

There’s no cap on the number of licenses to be issued, but the law allowed municipalities to opt out.

Eighty municipalities and 19 counties decided to ban dispensaries as of May 23, according to state Department of Revenue data.

Kris Jones Adcock, director of the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Program, said about 15 businesses had completed license applications as of Monday, according to the Associated Press.

In all, more than 1,800 residents already have registered for accounts on an online portal designed for the state to accept MMJ business license and patient applications, according to the AP and other media reports. Most of the 1,800 are patient applications.

Mississippi law allows patients to purchase only about 3 ounces of marijuana a month and caps potency levels at 30% THC for flower and 60% for concentrates, oils and tinctures.

State MMJ regulators said they will start accepting dispensary applications on July 1.

Voters overwhelmingly passed a more liberal MMJ referendum in 2020, but the Mississippi Supreme Court voided the measure on a technicality.

The 2022 MJBiz Factbook projects that the Mississippi medical marijuana market will generate sales of $265 million in the market’s first year and $800 million by the fourth year.