Mississippi medical marijuana bill dies in committee, bad bills die as well

On January 30, Mississippi's medical marijuana bill, H.B. 421, died in the House Judiciary A Committee after no action was taken. Sadly, Mississippi's seriously ill patients still face arrest and prison for using their medicine. We would like to thank all the patients and other supporters who reached out to their legislators in support of this compassionate legislation. Unfortunately, our voices were ignored, as lawmakers chose not even to hold a hearing on the bill.

There is, however, a bit of good news. The four bad marijuana-related bills that I told you about last week died in committee, too. House Bills 210, 486, 492, and 1147 all would have, in one way or another, increased penalties for low-level marijuana possession offenses. Click here to read last week's alert, which describes what these bills would have done. It's great that these bills did not receive consideration this year.

Mississippi therefore continues to target medical marijuana patients... but also remains one of the states where first-offense possession of small amounts of marijuana is punishable by a fine and no jail time.

The future of the state is uncertain. One thing's for sure, however: Most legislators aren't going to take medical marijuana seriously until their constituents demonstrate that this issue is vital to Mississippi's residents. So, please, continue to stay active call your legislators, write letters to your local papers, and inform everyone you know about the benefits of medical marijuana and the need for a law that protects patients.

Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. Please pass this alert on to your friends and family in Mississippi so that they, too, may get involved in reform.